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BV  2400  .P59  1891 
Pierson,  Arthur  T.  1837- 

1911. 
The  miracles  of  missions 


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THE 

MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS 


OR 


The  Modern  Marvels  in  the  History 
of  Missionary  Enterprise 


BY 

ARTHUR  tAp: 


tA£ie 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 
LONDON  TORONTO 

1891 

Printed  in  the  United  States  Ail  Rights  Reserved 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1891,  by  the 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface >     v 

I. — The  Apostle  of  the  South  Seas 9 

II.— The  Light  of  the   Cape  of    Good 

Hope ---    3° 

III—  The  "Lone  Star"  Mission 50 

IV.— The  Land  of  the  White  Elephant.,    61 
V. — Among  the  Wynds  of  Glasgow. .,    76 

VI. — The  Syrian  Martyr 93 

VII.— Mission  to  the  Half  Million  of  Blind 

in  China 97 

"VIII.— The  "Wild  Men"  of  Burmah 117 

IX.— The      Converts    and    Martyrs     of 

Uganda 133 

X. — The  Home  of  the  Inquisition 140 

XI. — The  Land  of  Queen  Esther 150 

* XII.— The    Wonderful  Story  of  Madagas- 
car   162 


PREFACE 


HE  learned  and  accomplished  Theo- 
dore Christlieb,  D.D.,  University 
Preacher  and  Professor  of  Theol- 
ogy at  Bonn,  in  his  "  Modern  Doubt  and 
Christian  Belief,"  says  :  "  We  cannot  fully 
admit  the  proposition  that  no  more  miracles 
are  performed  in  our  day.  In  the  history  of 
modern  missions  we  find  many  wonderful 
occurrences  which  unmistakably  remind  us 
of  the  apostolic  age.  In  both  periods  there 
are  similar  hindrances  to  be  overcome  in  the 
heathen  world,  and  similar  palpable  con- 
firmations of  the  Word  are  needed  to  con- 
vince the  dull  sense  of  man.  We  may, 
therefore,  expect  miracles  in  this  case." 

Professor  Christlieb  then  oroceeds  to  cite 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  history  of  Hans  Egede,  the  first  evangeli- 
cal missionary  in  Greenland,  who,  before  he 
had  mastered  the  language  of  the  Esquimaux, 
had  given  them  a  pictorial  representation  of 
the  miracles  of  Christ.  His  hearers,  who, 
like  many  in  Christ's  own  day,  had  a  percep- 
tion only  for  bodily  relief,  challenged  him  to 
prove  the  power  of  his  Redeemer  upon  their 
sick  people.  With  many  prayers  and  sighs 
he  ventured  to  lay  his  hands  upon  the  sick, 
prayed  over  them  and  bade  them  to  be  whole, 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  scores  of 
instances  they  were  healed.  It  would  seem 
as  though,  in  this  case,  the  Lord  was  not  able 
to  reveal  himself  to  this  mentally  blunted 
and  stunted  race  by  means  merely  spiritual, 
and  that  bodily  signs  were  needful.  Prof. 
Christlieb  mentions  similar  instances  occur- 
ring in  the  lives  of  the  Moravian  missionaries 
Spangenberg  and  Zeisberger,  at  the  Rhenish 
Mission  Station  in  South  Africa,  as  stated  in 
the  memoir  of  Kleinschmidt,  and  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Waldenses,  and  especially  at  the 
station  of  La  Balsille,  their  mountain  fortress. 
He  refers  to  the  story  of  the  Moravian  mis- 
sionary ship  "  Harmony,"  etc.,  and  he  re- 
marks that,  to  deny  the  spiritual  element  in 


PREFACE.  VII 

these  and  similar,  cases  will  not  enable  us  to 
escape  miracles,  but  only  compel  us  to  believe 
in  greater  prodigies. 

These  observations  of  Dr.  Christlieb  have 
suggested  the  somewhat  emphatic  title  of 
this  book.  We  have  chosen  to  call  it  "  The 
Miracles  of  Missions,"  notwithstanding  the 
objections  frequently  urged  to  the  use  of  the 
word  "miracles";  for  it  must  be  remembered 
that  a  miracle,  as  the  word  indicates,  is  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  a  wonder  to  which 
God  appeals  as  a  sign  of  divine  presence  and 
power;  and  all  that  we  mean  by  this  term  as 
now  used  is  that,  in  the  history  of  modern 
missions,  there  are  amazing  wonders  of  di- 
vine interposition  and  human  transformation 
which  admit  of  no  adequate  explanation  if 
we  deny  the  divine  element. 

The  author  would  simply  add,  before  pre- 
senting a  few  of  these  instances  somewhat  in 
detail,  that  the  impression  with  which  he 
began  these  studies,  now  more  than  thirty 
years  ago,  has  daily  and  hourly  increased  as 
these  studies  have  been  further  prosecuted. 
With  these  prefatory  remarks  we  submit  to 
the  candid  judgment  of  the  reader  the  testi- 
mony  of  missionary  biography  and   history, 


VIII  PREFACE. 

assured  that  candor  will  compel  every  honest 
observer  to  confess,  like  Pharaoh's  magicians, 
Truly  this  is  The  Finger  of  God  ! 

ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON. 


2320  Spruce  Street,  Philadelphia, 
September,  1891. 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


No.  I. 

THE   APOSTLE   OF   THE  SOUTH    SEAS. 


MONG  the  Old  Testament  forecasts 
of  missionary  labor  is  this — "  The 
isles  shall  wait  for  his  law."  x  This 
has  been  literally  fulfilled  in  the  South  Sea 
Archipelago. 

The  name  of  John  Williams  is  closely  iden- 
tified with  this  story  of  missionary  heroism 
and  success.  Born,  June  29,  1796,  and  mur- 
dered at  Dillons  Bay,  Erromanga,  November 
20,  1839,  n*s  life  covers  only  forty-three 
years,  but  it  abounds  in  proofs  of  the  divine 
interposition  and  wonder-working.  At  twenty 
years  of  age  he  offered  himself  to  the  Lon- 
don   Missionary    Society,    and    was    sent   to 

1  Isaiah  xlii  :  4. 


IO  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

Eimeo,  one  of  the  Society  Islands.  Thence 
he  removed  to  Huaheine,  and  then  to  Raia- 
tea,  the  largest  of  the  group.  After  five  years 
of  apostolic  success,  he  visited  the  Hervey 
Islands  and  founded  a  mission  at  Raratonga. 
Continuing  to  reside  at  Raiatea  until  he 
learned  the  language  of  the  Society  Islands, 
he  then  returned  to  Raratonga,  where  he 
prepared  books  and  translated  a  portion  of 
the  Bible.  In  a  vessel  of  his  own  building 
he,  for  four  years,  conducted  his  exploration 
of  nearly  the  whole  of  the  South  Sea  Archi- 
pelago, establishing  the  Samoan  Mission. 
Then  he  spent  four  years  in  England — from 
1834  to  1838 — publishing  his  Raratongan  Tes- 
tament and  his  narrative  of  adventures  in  the 
South  Seas,  raising  twenty  thousand  dollars 
for  a  new  missionary  ship,  planning  for  a 
high  school  at  Tahiti,  and  a  theological 
school  at  Raratonga  for  the  training  of  native 
missionaries ;  returning  with  sixteen  addi- 
tional laborers  he  visited  Samoa,  and  sailed 
for  the  New  Hebrides  to  plan  a  new  mission. 
He  fell  a  martyr  on  the  shores  of  Erro- 
manga. 

Such  is  the   outline  of  this  marvelous  life 
Let  us   trace,    somewhat    in   detail,  the    mis- 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  IT 

sionary  career  crowned  with  such  apostolic 
success. 

Many  islands  in  this  Archipelago  are  sur- 
rounded by  a  belt  of  coral  rock  from  two  to 
twenty  yards  in  width,  against  which  the 
waves  drive  with  terrific  violence,  curling 
their  foamy  crests  over  the  top  of  the  reef, 
and,  bursting  against  this  rocky  bulwark, 
separate  themselves  in  harmless  vengeance 
upon  its  surface.  This  coral  belt  is  an  apt 
symbol  of  the  ramparts  of  superstition  and 
idolatry  by  which  these  islands  were  encom- 
passed. The  moral  darkness  of  the  people 
was  so  deep  that,  in  many  cases,  the  idea  of 
the  true  God  had  almost  disappeared  from 
their  minds,  and  the  conception  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man  was  as  nearly  lost  as 
that  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  In  these 
islands  dwelt  ferocious  savages,  constantly 
engaged  in  desolating  wars,  cannibals  who 
killed  and  ate  each  other,  and  among  whom 
cannibalism  was  but  the  crowning  vice  and 
crime  of  a  system  of  iniquity,  the  like  of 
which  has  seldom  been  found  elsewhere 
among  any  of  the  children  of  men. 

It  would  be  improper  to  put  on  the  printed 
page    a   fully  accurate   picture  of   the  licen- 


12  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

tiousness  of  heathenism,  as  it  existed  before 
the  rays  of  Christian  light  has  beamed  upon 
this  deep  darkness.  So  far  was  all  decency 
outraged  that  it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of 
those  things  which  were  done  of  them  in 
secret.  Children  were  strung  together  by 
skewers,  run  through  their  ears,  and  old  peo- 
ple were  often  pierced  with  javelins  or  beaten 
to  death  with  clubs. 

Women  were  barbarously  treated.  Their 
condition  was  very  low.  They  were  under 
the  bondage  of  a  Tabu  system  similar  to  that 
which  prevailed  in  the  Hawaiian.  Islands. 
They  could  not  eat  certain  kinds  of  food,  or 
live  under  the  same  roof  with  their  tyranni- 
cal lords. 

As  one  of  the  teachers  who  labored  at 
Rurutu  said,  there  were  in  the  days  of  their 
heathendom  two  captivities  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  one  was  the  captivity  to  the  gods  and 
the  other  captivity  to  the  king's  servants. 
The  first  rendered  a  person  liable  to  be 
offered  up  as  a  sacrifice,  the  other  made  him 
liable  to  have  his  house  entered,  and  to  suffer 
the  greatest  depredations  without  daring 
even  to  remonstrate. 

Of  course  wars  among  such  a  people  were 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  13 

very  sanguinary.  Female  prisoners  were 
generally  put  to  death  lest  they  should  after- 
wards become  mothers  of  warriors.  Poor 
little  children,  with  spears  passed  through 
their  ears,  were  carried  in  triumph  to  the 
Marae.  Conquered  foes  had  their  skulls  beat 
in,  and  their  brains  borne  upon  bread  fruit 
leaves  as  an  offering  to  the  gods. 

It  would  be  in  vain  within  the  proper  limits 
of  an  article  like  this  to  do  more  than  give 
an  outline  of  the  work  which  extended 
through  twenty-two  years,  and  which  was,  as 
we  have  intimated,  a  triumphal  progress. 

The  Mauruans  told  the  missionaries  that 
they  formerly  attributed  every  evil  that  befell 
them  to  the  anger  of  their  "  evil  spirits,"  but 
now  they  worshiped  the  living  and  true 
God,  and  they  pointed  to  the  demolished 
Maraes  and  mutilated  idols  as  the  proof  of 
the  great  change.  The  change  in  the  name 
of  the  gods,  whom  they  now  called  "  evil 
spirits,"  was  an  indication  of  the  radical 
change  in  their  religious  beliefs.  In  some 
cases  the  spears  which  had  been  used  in 
warfare  were  found  converted  into  staves  to 
support  the  balustrades  of  the  pulpit  stairs, 
and  not  a  vestige  of  idolatry  was  to  be  seen. 


14  THE    MIRACLES   OF    MISSIONS. 

Oro,  the  famous  war  god,  and  other  grim- 
looking  wooden  idols  were  used  as  props  for 
the  roof  of  a  cooking-house  or  woodshed.  It 
was  common  in  these  islands  for  the  idol 
temples  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  idol  gods 
to  be  burned  or  formally  surrendered  to  the 
missionaries  as  trophies  of  the  Gospel.  In 
Aitutaki  the  profession  of  Christianity  was 
so  general  that  not  a  single  idolater  re- 
mained, and  a  large  chapel  was  built  nearly 
200  feet  in  length.  Recitations  in  the  cate- 
chism, prayers  to  God,  and  grace  at  table,  dis- 
placed unsightly  gestures  and  obscene  songs. 
A  people  that  eighteen  months  before  were 
the  wildest  Mr.  Williams  had  ever  seen,  had 
become  mild,  teachable,  diligent,  and  kind. 

The  rapidity  and  thoroughness  of  the 
changes  that  took  place  in  these  island 
groups  have  had  probably  no  parallel  in  all 
Christian  history;  and  thus  conversion  from 
idolatry,  in  so  short  a  time,  became  a  striking 
fulfillment  of  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  As 
soon  as  they  hear  of  me  they  shall  obey  me; 
the  strangers  shall  submit  themselves  unto 


Psalm  xviii  :  45;  2  Samuel  xxii  :  45. 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  15 

In  the  case  of  Raratonga,  it  was  but  a  little 
more  than  a  year  after  the  discovery  of  this 
island,  when  the  whole  population  had  re- 
nounced idolatry  and  were  engaged  in  erect- 
ing a  place  of  worship  600  feet  in  length ;  and 
at  a  meeting  held  the  chiefs  from  Aitutaki 
were  the  principal  speakers  at  the  assembly. 
The  means  which  God  made  use  of  rendered 
the  work  more  astonishing.  Two  native 
teachers,  not  particularly  distinguished 
among  their  own  countrymen  for  intelli- 
gence, became  the  instruments  of  this  won- 
derful change  before  a  single  missionary  had 
set  foot  upon  the  island.  There  it  was  that 
Mr.  Williams  met,  in  1827,  the  greatest  con- 
course of  people  he  had  seen  since  he  left 
England.  The  people  walking  in  procession 
dropped  at  his  feet  fourteen  immense  idols, 
the  smallest  of  which  was  about  five  yards  in 
length. 

Mr.  Williams  drew  up  an  elementary  work, 
translated  the  Gospel  of  John  and  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  which  were  printed  a  few 
months  later,  and  from  that  moment  the 
progress  of  the  people  was  so  rapid  that  it 
distances  all  comparison.  The  manner  in 
which  the  Raratongans  spent  their  Sabbaths 


l6  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

is  both  interesting  and  suggestive.  A  pre- 
paratory prayer-meeting  was  held  at  sunrise, 
conducted  entirely  by  themselves  ;  a  service 
of  worship  was  led  by  the  missionary  at  nine 
o'clock,  prior  to  which  they  met  in  classes  of 
ten  or  twelve  families  each,  and  distributed 
among  themselves  the  respective  portions  of 
the  sermon  which  each  individual  should 
bring  away;  and  they  were  accustomed  care- 
fully to  note  the  divisions  of  the  discourse, 
and  mark,  opposite  to  each,  the  chapters  or 
verses  by  which  it  was  illustrated. 

Another  mark  of  the  progress  of  Christian- 
ity was  the  adoption  of  the  code  of  Christian 
laws.  From  time  immemorial  the  inhabi- 
tants had  been  systematic  thieves,  and  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  their  meth- 
ods of  punishment  were  little  more  than  acts 
of  vengeance.  The  friends  of  the  aggrieved 
party  would  take  from  the  offender  by  force 
any  article  of  value,  destroy  his  trees  and 
crops,  break  down  his  house,  and  sometimes 
murder  the  thief  himself.  After  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  a  proper  code  of  laws, 
with  judges  and  juries,  took  the  place  of  this 
method  of  private  vengeance.  Theft,  tres- 
pass, stolen  property,  Sabbath-breaking,  re- 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  1 7 

bellion,  marriage,  adultery,  and  "  land-eat- 
ing," or  the  forcible  and  unjust  possession  of 
another's  land,  were  all  regulated  or  re- 
strained by  law,  and  deliberate  murder  was 
punished  with  death.  Plurality  of  wives 
became  unlawful;  marriage  was  celebrated 
by  becoming  ceremonies. 

The  Raratongan  women  were  completely 
transformed  by  the  Gospel,  even  in  their  out- 
ward appearance.  They  became  more  indus- 
trious, neat  in  their  persons,  modest  in  their 
manners,  faithful  in  their  households,  and 
helpful  in  all  Christian  work. 

Not  only  was  the  burning  of  the  idol  fanes 
and  even  of  the  idols  themselves  a  common 
result  on  these  islands,  of  the  preaching  of 
Christ,  but  the  chiefs  commonly  led  the  way 
in  the  conversion  of  the  people,  and  some- 
times in  the  advocacy  of  such  conversion  by 
public  addresses.  It  was  most  affecting  to 
the  missionaries  to  see  knees  bowed  in  prayer 
to  God,  and  tongues  unloosed  in  supplication, 
upon  islands  which  had  never  before  known 
prayer  to  Jehovah.  Sometimes  the  public 
destruction  of  idols  was  attended  by  vast 
crowds,  and  presided  over  by  the  chiefs  in 
person,  who  disrobed  the  gods  of  their  gaudy 


1 8  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

trappings  and  flung  them  as  fuel  into  the  fire. 
In  some  cases  all  the  ensigns  of  idolatry  were 
destroyed  throughout  an  island  in  a  few  hours, 
and  the  erection  of  a  place  of  worship  for 
Jehovah  immediately  succeeded  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Maraes.  For  example,  upon  the 
arrival  of  Tamatoa  and  his  followers  atOpoa, 
a  multitude  met  them  on  the  sea  beach,  and 
numbers  ran  to  and  fro,  shouting  welcome  in 
the  name  of  their  gods,  and  expecting  to  re- 
ceive war-captives;  but,  as  the  chief's  canoe 
neared  the  shore,  a  herald  stood  upon  a  lifted 
platform  and  shouted  back :  "  We  have 
brought  no  victims  slain  in  battle  ;  we  are  all 
praying  people  and  worship  the  true  God;" 
and  thereupon  he  held  up  the  books  which 
the  missionaries  had  written  for  them,  and 
cried  :  "  These  are  the  victims,  the  trophies 
with  which  we  have  returned." 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Tamatoa  at  Raia- 
tea  the  inhabitants  were  informed  of  the  work 
of  grace  at  Tahiti,  and  were  urged  to  yield 
themselves  to  the  Gospel,  and  about  one-third 
of  the  people  agreed  to  the  proposal.  Tama- 
toa was  shortly  after  taken  very  ill,  and  one 
of  the  Christians  proposed  to  destroy  Oro, 
the  great  national  idol,  lest  perhaps  Jehovah 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  I<) 

was  angry  with  them  for  not  having  done  this 
before.  After  consultation  it  was  agreed  that 
it  should  be  done.  A  courageous  band  pro- 
ceeded to  the  great  Marae  at  Opoa,  took  Oro 
from  his  seat,  tore  off  his  robes  and  fired  his 
temple.  The  heathen  party  determined  to 
fight  the  Christians  and  destroy  them,  and 
they  built  a  house  of  cocoanut  trunks  and 
bread  fruit  trees,  into  which  they  intended  to 
thrust  them  and  burn  them  alive.  The  Chris- 
tian natives  spent  hours  in  prayer,  and  plan- 
ning for  their  defense  against  the  fury  of 
these  foes.  So  conspicuous  was  their  appeal 
to  God  and  their  faith  in  his  interposition, 
that  their  enemies  themselves  attributed  their 
own  defeat  to  the  influence  of  the  new  reli- 
gion ;  and  it  was  no  wonder,  for  their  attack 
upon  the  Christians  was  turned  into  a  panic, 
the  heathen  were  seized  with  consternation, 
and  after  a  short  resistance  threw  away  their 
arms  and  fled  for  their  lives.  Instead  of  meet- 
ing with  such  barbarous  treatment  as  they 
would  have  inflicted  had  they  been  the  con- 
querors, they  met  at  the  hands  of  the  Chris- 
tians not  only  mercy,  but  loving  kindness. 
A  feast  was  prepared  at  which  nearly  a  hun- 
dred large  pigs  were  baked  whole  and  served 


20  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

with  bread-fruit  and  other  vegetables,  and 
when  these  defeated  heathen  sat  down  to  eat 
they  could  not  swallow  their  food,  so  over- 
whelmed were  they  by  the  astonishing  events 
of  the  day.  One  of  them  arose  and  said  : 
"  Let  every  one  act  as  he  will,  but  for  my 
part,  never  again  to  my  dying  day  will  I  wor- 
ship the  gods  that  could  not  protect  us  in  the 
hour  of  danger.  We  were  four  times  the  num- 
ber of  the  praying  people,  yet  with  the  great- 
est ease  they  have  conquered  us.  Jehovah  is 
the  true  God.  Had  we  been  conquerors, 
they  would  now  be  burning  in  the  house  we 
made  for  the  purpose  ;  but  instead  of  injur- 
ing us,  or  our  wives  or  children,  they  have  set 
for  us  this  sumptuous  feast.  Theirs  is  a  reli- 
gion of  mercy.  I  will  go  and  join  myself  to 
this  people." 

Such  was  the  effect  of  this  address  that 
every  one  of  the  heathen  party  bowed  his  knees 
that  very  night  in  prayer  to  Jehovah,  for  the  first 
time,  and  actually  united  with  the  Christians 
in  returning  thanks  for  the  victory  which  Je- 
hovah had  accorded  to  those  whom  they  had 
sought  to  destroy.  The  next  morning,  after 
prayers,  both  the  Christians  and  the  heathen 
united  in  destroying  every  Marae  in  Tahua 


THE   APOSTLE   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS.  21 

and  Raiatea,  so  that,  in  three  days  after  this 
battle,  no  vestige  of  idol  worship  could  be 
found  in  either  island,  and  yet  at  this  time  there 
was  at  neither  of  these  islands  any  missionary! 
Mr.  Williams  tells  a  most  affecting  story  of 
a  spiritual  beggar  known  as  Buteve.  There 
were  six  or  eight  stone  seats,  regarded  with 
much  veneration  by  the  people  as  connected 
with  their  grandfathers,  or  some  great  chiefs. 
These  were  generally  formed  of  two  smooth 
stones,  one  of  which  served  as  a  seat  and  the 
other  as  a  support  for  the  back,  and  here,  in 
the  cool  of  the  day,  would  be  found  certain 
persons  ready  to  chat  with  any  passer-by. 
Mr.  Williams's  attention  was  arrested  by  see- 
ing a  person  get  off  one  of  these  seats  and 
walk  upon  his  knees  into  the  center  of  the 
"  parent  path,"  shouting,  "  Welcome,  servant 
of  God,  who  brought  Hght  into  this  dark 
island  !  To  you  we  are  indebted  for  the  Word 
of  Heaven."  Mr.  Williams  asked  this  cripple 
what  he  knew  about  Heaven,  and  found  his 
answers  to  be  exceedingly  intelligent  about 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  Atonement,  the  future 
life,  the  approach  of  the  soul  to  God  in  prayer, 
and  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  he  said  : 
"  Buteve,  where  did  you  obtain  all  this  knowl- 


22  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

edge  ?  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  seen 
you  at  the  settlements  where  I  have  spoken  ; 
and,  besides  this,  your  hands  and  feet  are 
eaten  off  by  disease  and  you  have  to  walk 
upon  your  knees."  Buteve  answered:  "  As 
the  people  return  from  the  service,  I  sit  by 
the  wayside  and  beg  from  them  as  they  pass 
by  a  bit  of  the  Word  ;  one  gives  me  one  piece 
and  another  another,  and  I  gather  them  to- 
gether in  my  heart,  and  thinking  over  what 
I  thus  obtain,  and  praying  to  God  to  make 
me  know,  I  get  to  understand."  This  poor 
cripple,  who  had  never  been  in  a  place  of  wor- 
ship himself  had  thus  picked  up  the  crumbs 
which  fell  from  the  Lord's  table  and  eagerly 
devoured  them. 

Not  only  were  these  natives  rapidly  con- 
verted, but  they  became  zealous  and  success- 
ful evangelists.  They  made  tours  of  the 
islands,  endeavoring  to  bring  others  to  Christ 
and  to  leave  no  heathen  settlement  unvisited 
and  no  idol  remaining.  They  proved  to  be 
exceedingly  prayerful,  and  faithful  and  singu- 
larly benevolent,  so  that  in  proportion  to  their 
ability  their  gifts  averaged  far  beyond  the 
gifts  of  members  of  Christian  churches  in  the 
most  favored  lands. 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  23 

On  one  occasion  Mr.  Williams  explained 
the  manner  in  which  English  Christians  raised 
money  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen, 
and  the  natives  expressed  great  regret  at  not 
having  money  that  they  might  help  in  the 
same  good  work  of  causing  the  Word  of  God 
to  grow.  Mr.  Williams  replied  :  "  If  you  have 
no  money,  you  have  something  that  takes  the 
place  of  money  ;  something  to  buy  money 
with ; "  he  then  referred  to  the  pigs  that  he 
had  brought  to  the  island  on  his  first  visit, 
and  which  had  so  increased  that  every  family 
possessed  them  ;  and  he  suggested  that,  if 
every  family  in  the  island  would  set  apart  a 
pig  for  causing  the  Word  of  God  to  grow, 
and,  when  the  ships  came,  would  sell  the  pigs 
for  money,  a  large  offering  might  be  raised. 
The  natives  were  delighted  with  the  idea,  and 
the  next  morning  the  squeaking  of  the  pigs, 
which  were  receiving  the  "  mark  of  the  Lord" 
in  their  ears,  was  heard  from  one  end  of  the 
settlement  to  the  other.  On  Mr.  Williams's 
return  to  the  island,  the  native  treasurer  put 
into  his  hands  one  hundred  and  three  pounds, 
the  product  of  these  sales.  It  was  the  first 
money  they  had  ever  possessed,  and  every 
farthing  of  it  was  given  to  the  cause  of  Christ. 


24  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

The  story  of  the  work  of  God  at  Aitutaki, 
Atiu,  Mangaia  and  Mauke,  is  the  more  inter- 
esting because  all  these  changes  are  the  result 
of  native  missionaries,  no  European  missionary 
ever  having  resided  at  either  of  these  islands. 

The  eagerness  of  the  people  to  welcome 
missionaries  probably  has  had  no  parallel  in 
missionary  history.  When  Mr.  Williams  went 
to  Savaii,  he  was  met  with  extravagant  joy, 
which  the  South  Sea  Islanders  invariably 
show  by  weeping.  He  learned  that  Malietoa, 
his  brother,  the  principal  chiefs  and  nearly 
all  the  inhabitants  of  their  settlement  had 
embraced  Christianity,  had  built  a  chapel, 
holding  seven  hundred  people,  which  was 
always  full,  and  that  in  the  two  large  islands 
of  Savaii  and  Upolu,  the  Gospel  had  been 
introduced  into  more  than  thirty  villages, 
and  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  were 
waiting  only  for  Mr.  Williams's  arrival  to 
renounce  their  heathenism.  When  he  met 
Malietoa,  the  chief  remarked,  "  My  heart's 
desire  is  to  know  the  Word  of  Jehovah."  In 
the  afternoon  Mr.  Williams  preached  to  not 
less  than  a  thousand  persons,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  chief  himself  who  urged  all 
Savaii  and  Upolo  to  embrace  this  new  relig- 


THE   APOSTLE    OF   THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  25 

ion,  and  pledged  his  whole  soul  to  the  encir- 
cling of  the  land  with  the  Word  of  Jehovah, 
and  when  Mr.  Williams  proposed  to  return 
at  once  to  his  native  country  and  urge  his 
brother  Christians  to  furnish  more  mission- 
aries for  the  South  Seas,  the  chieftain 
replied,  "  Go  with  all  speed,  get  all  the  mis- 
sionaries you  can  and  come  back  as  soon  as 
you  can,  but  many  of  us  will  be  dead  before 
you  return."  The  whole  pathos  of  missions 
was  in  that  short  entreaty. 

The  public  renunciation  of  heathenism  was 
often  accompanied  with  most  interesting  cer- 
emonies; for  instance,  every  chief  of  note  had 
his  Etu,  that  is,  some  species  of  bird,  fish,  or 
reptile,  in  which  the  spirit  of  his  god  was 
believed  to  reside,  and  the  way  to  desecrate 
the  Etu  so  that  it  could  no  longer  be  regarded 
as  sacred  was  to  cook  and  eat  that  in  which 
the  god  was  believed  to  dwell.  For  example, 
the  Etu  of  one  of  the  chiefs  was  an  eel,  and 
an  eel  was  caught,  cooked  and  eaten  in  order 
to  evince  his  sincerity.  When  the  spectators 
saw  that  no  harm  came  from  such  acts  as 
these,  like  the  inhabitants  of  ancient  Malta, 
they  changed  their  minds  and  said,"  Jehovah 
is  the  true  God." 


26  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

In  the  Missionary  Museum  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society  has  been  placed  a  relic 
which  Mr.  Williams  himself  brought  from 
the  South  Seas.  It  is  known  as  Papo.  It  was 
the  god  of  war,  attached  to  the  canoe  of  the 
leader  when  the  people  went  forth  to  battle, 
and  regarded  with  great  veneration,  and  yet 
it  was  nothing  more  than  a  piece  of  old  rot- 
ten matting  about  three  yards  long  and  four 
inches  in  width. 

The  Apostle  of  the  South  Seas  thus  con- 
cludes his  own  narrative  of  these  remarkable 
events,  in  which  all  believing  disciples  must 
surely  see  the  power  of  God.  He  was  espe- 
cially impressed,  he  says,  with  the  rapidity  of 
the  work  of  Christ  under  his  labors;  whereas, 
at  Tahiti,  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  toil  and 
anxiety  passed  before  a  single  conversion 
took  place,  and,  at  New  Zealand,  the  devoted 
missionaries  of  the  Church  Missionary  Soci- 
ety labored  for  nearly  twenty  years  before 
the  natives  showed  any  general  desire  to  be 
taught;  at  the  Navigators'  Islands,  in  less 
than  twenty  brief  months  chapels  were 
erected  and  the  people  clamoring  for 
instruction. 

The  new  religion  was  so   highly  esteemed 


THE   APOSTLE   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS.  27 

by  all  classes  and  the  desire  for  the  mission- 
aries was  so  intense  that,  at  many  stations 
the  people  had  built  places  of  worship,  had 
prepared  their  food  on  Saturday,  and  came 
together  at  six  o'clock  on  the  Sabbath  morn- 
ing, sitting  for  an  hour  in  silence,  and  repeat- 
ing this  a  second  and  even  a  third  time 
during  the  day.  Truly  the  isles  did  "  wait 
for  His  law." 

When  Mr.  Williams  first  visited  Raratonga, 
in  1823,  he   found   them   all   heathens;  when 
he  left  them,  in  1834,  they  were  all  professed 
Christians;  and  in  the  stead  of  idols  and  Ma- 
raes  were  three  spacious  places  of  Christian 
worship,  with- an  aggregate  of  six  thousand 
attendants.    He  found  them  without  a  written 
language,  and  left  them  reading  in  their  own 
tongue  the  wonderful   works  of   God.      He 
found  them  without  a  Sabbath,  and  when  he 
left  them  there  was  no  manner  of  work  done 
on  the  Lord's  day.     He  found  them  ignorant 
of  the  nature  of  true  worship;  he  left  them 
with  family  prayer  every  morning  and  even- 
ing in  every  house  in  the  island,  and  what  was 
true   of    Raratonga  was  true   of    the  whole 
Hervey   group.     In  ten  years'  time    a    dark 
and  bloody  idolatry,  with  all  its  horrid  rites, 


28  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

gave  way  to  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel.  To 
the  close  of  Mr.  Williams's  life  there  was  one 
continued  series  of  successes.  Island  after 
island  and  group  after  group  were  succes- 
sively and  rapidly  brought  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Gospel,  so  that  not  one  group  or 
island  of  importance  could  be  found  within 
two  thousand  miles  of  Tahiti  in  any  direction 
to  which  the  good  news  of  the  Gospel  had 
not  been  carried.  It  is  not  wonderful  that, 
when  the  Bishop  of  Ripon  laid  down  the 
story  of  Williams's  missionary  career,  he 
should  have  said,  "  I  have  now  been  reading 
the  29th  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles." 
Surely  those  only  can  feel  no -interest  in  the 
work  of  missions  who  have  no  predisposition 
to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  or  who  are  in  utter 
ignorance  of  the  facts  of  missionary  history. 
Mr.  Williams's  death  was  the  result  un- 
doubtedly of  misapprehensions.  Injuries 
had  been  received  by  the  Erromangoans  from 
the  crew  of  a  vessel  which  shortly  before  had 
landed  there,  and  the  people  were  irritated 
by  the  sight  of  foreigners.  Mr.  Williams, 
when  approaching  the  shore,  was  struck  with 
a  club  by  one  of  the  natives ;  then  pierced 
with  several  arrows;  and  his  body  was  drawn 


THE    APOSTLE    OF    THE    SOUTH    SEAS.  29 

into  the  bush,  and  probably  the  greater  part 
of  it  was  eaten  by  these  cannibals. 

In  1889,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  John 
Williams's  martyrdom,  a  monument  was 
erected  at  Erromanga  to  his  memory,  and 
the  man  who  laid  its  corner-stone  was  the 
son  of  that  same  murderous  savage  who  dealt 
the  deadly  blow;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
another  son  of  this  murderer  was  preaching 
the  Gospel  in  Australia! 


No.  II. 

THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 

F  you  want  most  to  serve  your 
race,"  said  Mary  Lyon,  "go  where 
no  one  else  will  go.  and  do  what 
no  one  else  will  do." 

We  propose  to  draw  in  profile  the  outline 
of  one  of  the  most  wonderful  and  fascinating 
stories  of  modern  missions — the  narrative  of 
the  founding  of  the  Huguenot  Seminary  at 
Wellington,  Cape  Colony. 

Wellington,  about  forty  miles  from  Cape 
Town,  is  a  gem  set  in  a  ring  of  mountains — 
the  Drakenstein  and  Paarl  ranges.  It  is  now 
more  than  two  centuries  since  some  three 
hundred  Huguenots,  who  had  fled  from 
France  to  Holland  after  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  accepted  the  invitation 
of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  and  set- 
tled at  the  Cape.  What  the  Puritans  were  to 
America,  these  devoted  refugees  became  to 
the  Dark  Continent. 

By  law   Dutch    was  the   language    of   the 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     31 

colony  ;  and  so,  in  a  few  generations,  the 
French  ceased  to  be  their  language,  and  al- 
most the  nationality  of  these  refugees  was 
lost.  Early  in  this  century  the  colony  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
Dutch  Reformed  churches,  already  estab- 
lished, became  largely  supplied  with  Scotch 
Presbyterian  pastors. 

One  of  these  was  Rev.  Andrew  Murray, 
who  was  settled  over  the  congregation  at 
Graaff  Reinet.  He  married  a  Germano- 
Huguenot  lady,  and  five  of  their  sons  now 
preach  in  the  colony,  while  four  of  their 
daughters  are  wives  of  ministers.  The  sec- 
ond son,  also  called  Andrew,  is  the  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Wellington,  and  the  now 
famous  author  of  the  most  precious  devo- 
tional books  which  perhaps  during  the  past 
half  century  have  been  issued  from  the  Eng- 
lish press. 

This  man  of  God,  Andrew  Murray,  nearly 
twenty  years  ago,  buried  two  young  children 
at  his  African  home  ;  and,  as  Mrs.  Mur- 
ray expressed  it,  "  their  hands  seemed 
emptied,  and  ready  for  some  work  with  which 
the  Lord  was  waiting  to  fill  them."  The  be- 
reaved husband  and  wife  went,  in  December, 


32  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSION3. 

1872,  to  the  seaside  to  rest,  and  there  they 
read  together  the  marvelous  life  of  Mary- 
Lyon.  So  thrilled  were  they  by  that  story  of 
heroism  that  they  sought  to  obtain  every- 
thing that  could  further  inform  them  of  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  Holyoke  Seminary 
and  its  pupils,  and  eagerly  devoured  the 
story  of  Fidelia  Fiske,  the  Mary  Lyon  of 
Persia. 

Just  at  this  time  the  descendants  of  those 
Huguenot  refugees  living  at  Wellington 
were  proposing  to  build  some  monument  or 
memorial  to  their  ancestors  ;  and  Mr.  Mur- 
ray was  strangely  and  strongly  impressed 
that  the  best  memorial  they  could  rear  was 
just  such  a  school  for  their  daughters.  The 
schools  scattered  through  South  Africa  were 
neither  such  as  the  mind  nor  morals  of  the 
girls  needed;  few  of  them  were  fitted  to  train 
immortal  souls  for  service  here  or  glory 
hereafter.  Every  indication  of  human  need 
and  Divine  Providence  seemed  to  point  to 
this  as  the  time  and  place  for  a  new  Holyoke. 
And,  after  much  thought,  consultation,  and 
prayer,  letters  were  written  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Holyoke,  asking  for  a  graduate  to  found 
a  similar  school  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     33 

These  letters  awakened  unusual  interest  at 
the  parent  seminary,  and  were  put  into   the 
hands  of  Miss  Abbie  P.  Ferguson,  a  graduate 
of   the  class  of    1856,  who  was  at  that  time 
conducting  a  very  successful  work   in  New 
Haven,  Conn.     Her  mind  was  so  deeply  im- 
pressed that  God  was  calling  her  to  Africa, 
that  she  could  not  rest  until  she  had  laid  her- 
self  at  the  Lord's   feet,  to   go  wherever  He 
might  lead.     She  breathed  a  prayer  that,  if 
He   was   indeed   calling   her   to  Wellington, 
another  might  be  found  to  share  the  work  ; 
and  just  then  Miss  Anna  E.  Bliss,  of  the  class 
of    1862,  offered   herself   as   a   companion  in 
labor.     Just  at  this  time,  across  the  Atlantic, 
special  prayer  was  arising  that  Jehovah  Jireh 
would  provide  a  teacher,  and  so  once  more 
prayer  and  its  answer  joined  in  a  blessed  har- 
mony man's  performance  and  God's  purpose. 
Before  the  letters  reached  Wellington,  telling 
of  the  decision  of  these  teachers,  Mr.  Murray, 
with    characteristic  faith,  had  sent   passage- 
money  to  America ;  and  when    the   news   of 
the  decision  of  Miss  Ferguson  and  Miss  Bliss 
reached   the  colonists,  the  open  letters   were 
bedewed   with  tears  of  thanksgiving.     They 
had  asked  one  teacher,  and  God  had  given  two. 


34  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

Mr.  Murray  rehearsed  the  whole  story  of 
this  marked  leading  of  God,  commended  the 
proposed  work  to  the  Lord  in  prayer,  and 
pledges  were  given  on  the  spot  to  insure  the 
support  of  the  new  school.  Though  not  a 
rich  people,  in  a  few  weeks  $6,000  had  been 
given  by  the  Wellingtonians  alone,  one  widow 
giving  one-sixteenth  of  the  whole  amount — 
all  her  little  patrimony. 

Miss  Ferguson  and  her  companion  sailed 
for  Africa  in  September,  1873,  and  arrived  at 
Cape  Town  in  about  eight  weeks.  They 
found  that  a  large  building  with  grounds  had 
been  bought  for  the  school,  the  life  of  Mary 
Lyon  had  been  translated  into  Dutch,  and 
many  young  people  were  ready  to  enter  as 
pupils  into  the  new  Huguenot  Seminary,  or 
as  teachers,  to  seek  higher  fitness  for  their  call- 
ing. The  seminary  was  formally  opened,  Jan- 
uary 19,  1874,  and  the  large  assemblies  which 
that  day  prayerfully  committed  the  work 
to  the  Lord  will  never  be  forgotten.  During 
the  first  term  there  were  forty  students  from 
fifteen  to  forty  years  of  age  ;  and  the  Bible 
and  prayer  were  from  the  first  the  character- 
istic features  of  the  school  life,  the  first  hour 
of  each  day  being  given  to  instruction  in  the 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     35 

Holy  Word,  and  a  half  hour  in  the  day  being 
reserved  for  the  quiet  of  personal  communi- 
cation with  God. 

The  devout  and  earnest  purpose  of  these 
teachers  was  to  educate  Christian  character. 
God  honors  those  who  honor  Him.  One 
morning  the  Scripture  lesson  was  on  the  new 
birth,  and  before  that  day  had  gone  thirteen 
had  taken  their  place  on  the  Lord's  side.  Even 
those  whom  candor  compelled  to  confess  that 
they  were  unsaved,  could  not  rest  content 
without  salvation;  and,  when  another  meeting 
was  called,  for  those  who  felt  that  they  were 
Christ's,  every  one  in  the  school  came.  And 
after  all  these  years  have  put  the  confession 
to  the  test,  nearly  every  one  has  remained 
faithful,  and  not  a  few  have  been  filling  posi- 
tions of  singular  usefulness. 

Our  space  will  not  permit  more  than  an 
outline  of  a  history  now  covering  nearly  a 
score  of  years.  But,  as  might  be  expected, 
the  saved  became  saviours.  Children  were 
gathered  from  the  street,  and  a  Sunday-school 
was  formed  ;  through  the  children  access  was 
obtained  to  their  parents  ;  cottage  meetings 
— as  many  as  fourteen  at  one  time,  conducted 
by  young  ladies  ;  the  navvies  and  their  fami- 


36  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

lies  were  reached  by  the  same  consecrated 
workers,  and  Wellington  Seminary  became  a 
fountain  of  living  waters. 

The  seminary  building  became  too  strait 
for  the  growth  of  the  institution,  and  a  new 
building  became  a  necessity  ;  its  corner-stone 
was  laid  November  19,  1874,  the  two  build- 
ings together  costing  $40,000.  Two  more 
teachers  were  sent  for,  and  Miss  Wells  and 
Miss  Bailey  came  from  America,  November, 
X874,  and  soon  after  Miss  Spijker,  from  Hol- 
land, to  teach  Dutch  and  French. 

In  July,  1875,  tne  new  building  was  ready 
for  use  ;  the  pupils  increased  from  forty  to 
ninety,  and  the  school  was  divided  into  two 
departments — one  preparatory.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1875,  Miss  Landfear  came  from  New 
Haven  to  share  the  growing  burden  of  work, 
and  still  later  Miss  Brewer,  of  Stockbridge, 
Mass.  ;  in  1877,  Miss  Cummings  and  Miss 
Knapp  were  added  to  the  corps  of  instructors, 
and  the  standard  of  the  school  kept  rising 
higher  and  higher,  both  intellectually  and 
spiritually. 

During  1878,  stimulated  by  the  reports  of 
the  ten  years'  work  of  the  Womans'  Board  of 
Missions  in  America,  the  Huguenot  Mission- 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     37 

ary  Society  was  organized,  and  became  speed- 
ily the  parent  of  many  mission  circles.  Mis- 
sionary offerings  had  been  the  habit  at  the 
weekly  devotional  meetings,  and  had  been 
sent  to  Mrs.  Schauffler,in  Austria,  to  Dr.  Ber- 
nardo and  Miss  Annie  Macpherson  in  Lon- 
don, to  the  Basuto,  Natal,  and  Indian  mis- 
sions. But  now  the  work  took  organized  form, 
and  before  the  year  closed  a  member  of  the 
school  offered  herself  as  a  missionary,  and 
subsequently  went  as  their  representative  to 
the  heathen  in  the  Transvaal. 

That  same  year—  P878— the  first  graduating 
class  left  the  Huguenot  Seminary.  To  trace 
the  after-careers  of  these  four  graduates  may 
give  some  hint  of  the  streams  which  flow 
from  this  fountain.  One  of  the  four  (Miss 
Malherbe)  was  next  year  a  teacher  in  her 
Alma  Mater,  and  then  took  the  principalship 
of  Prospect  Seminary  in  Pretoria  in  the 
Transvaal  ;  Miss  De  Leeuw  and  Miss  Mader 
started  a  boarding-school  at  Bethlehem,  in 
the  Orange  Free  State,  similar  to  the  Wel- 
lington Seminary  ;  and  during  the  first  year 
had  five  more  pupils  than  Wellington  at  the 
corresponding  period  of  its  history  ;  Miss 
Wilson  went  to  teach  in  the  Rockland  Semi- 


38  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

nary  at  Cradock.  In  December,  1879,  seven 
more  young  ladies  received  diplomas,  and  all 
became  teachers.  Meanwhile  God  continued 
to  bestow  His  grace,  and  again  in  1879  nearly 
all  the  inmates  of  the  school  became  disci- 
ples of  Christ.  These  nearly  twenty  years 
have  been  marked  by  a  constant  growth.  In 
1882  there  was  opened  a  model  school,  and  a 
normal  department  was  organized.  Books, 
and  chemical  and  philosophical  apparatus,  a 
Williston  observatory  and  telescope,  etc.,  were 
furnished  by  generous  friends  ;  and  far  and 
wide  the  "  daughters  "  of  Miss  Ferguson  and 
her  fellow-teachers  scattered  to  diffuse  new 
blessings. 

In  April,  1880,  Miss  Ferguson  left  for  rest 
and  change,  and  visited  her  native  land,  re- 
turning the  next  year.  And  in  1882  another 
building  was  erected,  to  accommodate  about 
forty  more  pupils — boarders  ;  and  during  the 
same  year,as  already  intimated,  another  build- 
ing was  opened  for  a  model  school  for  the 
training  of  the  younger  children  of  the  village; 
and  the  pupils  of  the  normal  class  have  prac- 
tice in  the  art  of  teaching,  and  can  learn  the 
most  approved  methods — kindergarten,  etc. 

The  pressure  of  pupils  and  too  little  room 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE   39 

made  it  necessary  again  to  enlarge,  and  a  cot- 
tage adjoining  the  school  grounds  was  pur- 
chased. In  1885  Miss  Cummings,  of  Straf- 
ford, Vt.,  one  of  the  teachers,  came  home 
for  a  year's  visit,  and  secured  from  Mr.  Good- 
now,  of  Worcester,  a  building  costing  some 
^3,000.  The  upper  story,  to  be  used  as  a 
chapel,  will  seat  five  hundred,  and  the  lower 
floor  is  devoted  to  art-room  and  scientific 
class-rooms. 

Last  year  the  applications  were  so  many  it 
was  again  necessary  to  provide  more  room  ; 
and,  while  hesitating  whether  to  build  or  rent 
rooms  near  the  seminary,  the  principal  of  a 
girls'  school  at  the  Paarl,  a  village  some  eight 
miles  distant,  applied  to  the  trustees  to  pur- 
chase his  building,  failing  health  making  it 
necessary  that  he  and  his  wife  should  give  up 
the  work.  Some  of  the  village  people  were 
very  anxious  the  school  should  come  under 
the  influence  of  the  Huguenot  Seminary,  and 
after  much  thought  and  prayer  the  purchase 
was  made.  This  school  takes  the  younger 
pupils,  making  it  a  preparatory  department, 
and  one  of  the  American  teachers  superin- 
tends it.  This  gives  more  room  at  Welling- 
ton   for   advanced    pupils.     The  schools  are 


40  THE    MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

called  Huguenot  Seminary,  Paarl,  and  Hugue- 
not Seminary,  Wellington.  There  are  now  in 
the  two  schools  over  four  hundred  pupils. 
They  have  the  same  board  of  trustees,  and 
are  under  the  same  principal. 

The  expense  of  buildings  and  grounds  has 
outrun  their  income,  and  they  have  felt 
keenly  the  pressure  of  debt.  But  the  friends 
of  Christian  education  in  the  colony  have 
responded  nobly  to  the  call  for  aid,  and  at 
different  times  Parliament  has  granted  them 
appropriations  amounting  to  ^2,000,  so  that 
during  the  last  yaar  they  had  much  rejoicing 
in  Wellington  over  the  accomplishment  of 
the  long-desired  freedom  from  debt.  There 
is  some  indebtedness  on  the  Paarl  school  yet; 
but  Dr.  Dale,  or  Sir  Langham  Dale,  the  Super- 
intendent of  Education,  for  the  colony,  gives 
them  encouragement  to  hope  that  Govern- 
ment will  give  them  help  by  and  by. 

In  1888  Mrs.  H.  B.  Allen,  of  Meriden,  Conn., 
a  sister  of  Miss  Ferguson,  sent  a  circular  let- 
ter to  her  sister's  classmates  asking  for  help 
to  reduce  their  indebtedness,  it  being  her  sis- 
ter's "  jubilee  year,"  and  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  settling  of  the  Huguenots 
in  South  Africa.  They  were  to  make  a  special 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     41 

effort  to  "  go  free  "  that  year.  Mrs.  Allen 
secured  about  $200  in  money,  but  interest 
and  prayer  which  were,  perhaps,  worth  more. 
And  then  faith  was  rewarded,  for  early  in 
1889  the  grant  from  Government  came. 

The  writer  does  not  know  just  the  number 
of  missionaries  who  have  gone  out  from  the 
school,  but  there  have  been  hundreds  of 
teachers. 

Miss  Ferguson  made  a  famous  journey  in 
1887-88.  In  October,  1887,  she  left  the  sem- 
inary for  her  year's  vacation.  The  first  three 
months  of  it  she  spent  in  visiting  the  mission- 
ary stations  in  the  Midland  and  Eastern 
provinces  of  the  colony,  where  some  of  the 
pupils  are  located  as  missionaries  and 
teachers.  She  returned  to  Wellington  in 
December,  and  met  two  of  her  pupils  from 
Basutoland,  who  had  just  graduated,  and  re- 
turned with  them  to  their  home.  They  are 
the  daughters  of  French  missionaries  who  are 
in  charge  of  the  Protestant  mission  of  Basut- 
oland. They  went  by  train  from  Wellington 
to  Kimberley  (where  the  diamond  mines  are), 
and  spent  several  days  with  school  daughters 
there.  A  bullock  wagon,  drawn  by  fourteen 
oxen  belonging  to  the  missionaries,  was  sent 


42  THE    MIRACLES   OF    MISSIONS. 

from  Moujah  to  meet  them.  Leaving  Kim- 
berley  on  the  28th  of  December,  they  reached 
Moujah  on  the  10th  of  January,  outspanning 
in  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  traveling  often 
by  moonlight.  Two  Christian  natives,  who 
had  long  been  in  the  mission  family,  had 
charge  of   the  party — Eleazer  and  Nkloroso. 

I  have  before  me  the  plan  of  the  journey  as 
Miss  Ferguson  sent  it  from  Moujah.  Here 
are  extracts  from  her  journal  : 

"  February  5th,  at  Hermon  (Basutoland)  ; 
February  12th,  at  Mofukas  for  the  baptism  of 
a  sister  of  the  old  chief  Mosesh,  over  eighty 
years  old,  and  others.  February  19th,  Leribe, 
Mr.  Colliard's  old  station.  February  27th, 
Bethlehem,  Orange  Free  State,  with  Mrs. 
Theron,  one  of  our  Huguenot  teachers. 
March  3d,  Heilbron,  Orange  Free  State, 
where  four  of  my  Huguenot  daughters  live. 
March  8th,  Freeport,  Orange  Free  State,  the 
minister  and  wife  from  Wellington.  March 
12th,  Potchefstroom,  Transvaal,  where  I  have 
several  daughters.  Here  Mrs.  Gonin,  wife  of 
the  missionary  at  Saul's  Poort,  meets  me 
with  her  bullock  wagon,  and  we  go  on  to 
Rustenberg,  where  one  of  my  daughters  is  in 
the    school.       Her    father   is     the    principal. 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     43 

March  19th  to  April  20th,  Saul's  Poort, 
Mabie's  Kraal  and  Mochuli;  in  all  these  places 
we  have  girls  who  are  missionaries.  The  last 
of  April,  I  go  to  Praetoria  (Transvaal),  where 
we  have  girls  teaching  ;  then  on  to  Wakkus- 
troom  and  Utrecht  with  Mr.  Murray's  sister. 
The  last  of  May  to  Rorke's  Drift,  where  my 
friend,  the  Baroness  Rossi  has  a  little  mission 
work  of  her  own.  June  and  July  I  expect  to 
spend  in  Natal  with  the  American  mission- 
aries. 

Miss  Ferguson  was  detained  by  rains  and 
full  rivers,  so  that  she  did  not  ?eave  Mochuli 
until  May.  (Mochuli  is  half-way  between  the 
parallel  240  S.  and  the  Tropic  of  Capricorn, 
and  half-way  between  meridian  260  and  270  E. 
just  north  of  the  Natwane  River,  almost  in 
the  torrid  zone.  It  is  not  on  the  map.) 
Pietermaritzburg,  the  capital  of  the  Trans- 
vaal, was  the  only  place  where  she  spent  a  night 
at  a  hotel.  She  arrived  Saturday  night,  and 
her  letter  to  friends  had  not  been  received; 
but  she  was  found  on  the  Sabbath  and  car- 
ried away  to  the  home  of  Christian  friends. 

Early  in  August  she  sailed  from  Durban  to 
Port  Elizabeth,  went  to  King  William's  Town, 
and  on  up  to  Graaf  Reinet  ;  then  to  Kimber- 


44  THE    MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

ley  again  in  the  interest  of  the  mission  work 
so  near  her  heart,  which  has  resulted  in  the 
Mission  House,  cared  for  by  three  of  the 
Huguenot  daughters  ;  and  back  to  Welling, 
ton  the  last  of  September. 

Every  letter  speaks  of  the  marvelous  kind> 
ness  everywhere  received,  and  the  wonderful 
openings  for  work.  We  have  not  spoken  of 
the  "  Chautauqua  circles"  that  have  been 
formed  all  through  South  Africa.  Miss  Land- 
fear,  one  of  the  Huguenot  teachers,  is  the 
secretary  for  South  Africa,  and  is  introducing 
a  class  of  reading  that  is  educating  and  ele- 
vating those  who  have  left  school.  A  circle 
has  been  formed  among  the  native  boys  at 
Moujah. 

If  any  of  our  readers  will,  on  the  map,  fol. 
low  this  remarkable  journey  of  Miss  Fen 
guson  through  Southern  Africa,  they  will  see 
how  many  hundreds  of  miles  she  went ;  and 
let  it  be  remembered  that  only  one  night  in 
all  that  journey  was  spent  at  a  hotel  ;  in 
every  other  case  she  was  the  guest  of  "  her 
daughters" — the  young  ladies  who  had  grad- 
uated from  Wellington  and  gone  into  all  that 
dark  land  to  become  teachers,  missionaries, 
wives  of  godly  men  and  ministers  of  the  Gos- 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     45 

pel,  and  who  are  thus  turning  many  a  "  Val- 
ley of  Desolation"  and  barren  waste  of  Pagan- 
ism into  the  Lord's  garden  !  Are  we  not  right 
in  calling  Wellington's  Huguenot  Seminary 
"  the  Light  at  the  Cape  "  ?  To-day  Miss  Fer- 
guson has  under  her  care  four  hundred 
pupils. 

We  must  add  a  word  as  to  the  progress  of 
education  in  other  parts  of  the  land,  which  is 
largely  due  to  the  influence  of  Wellington. 

In  1874,  the  year  when  the  Huguenot  Semi- 
nary began  its  work,  Rev.  J.  Neethling,  of 
Stellenbosch,  asked  for  a  teacher  from  Amer- 
ica, on  behalf  of  the  school  committee,  and 
Miss  Gilson  came  in  response  to  the  call  in 
November  of  the  same  year.  Before  the  year 
1875  closed,  a  boarding  department  was 
opened  ;  and  the  large  and  flourishing  semi- 
nary now  does  for  the  Lord  most  excellent 
and  efficient  work  both  in  training  intellects 
and  educating  Christian  hearts  for  the  service 
of  the  Kingdom. 

During  1875  a  request  for  two  teachers  was 
sent  from  Worcester  by  Rev.  William  Mur- 
ray, the  minister  there,  to  America.  And,  as 
at  Wellington,  the  spirit  of  faith  and  prayer 
anticipated  the  arrival  of  the  teachers  in  pre- 


46  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

paring  for  the  school  and  sending  forward 
the  passage-money.  The  Misses  Smith  (two 
sisters),  of  Sunderland,  Mass.,  responded.  In 
April,  1876,  the  seminary  building  at  Worces- 
ter was  completed.  At  the  opening,  Rev. 
Andrew  Murray  spoke  on  the  great  need  of 
multiplying  such  Christian  schools  in  Africa, 
and  it  was  determined  to  ask  for  six  more 
teachers  from  over  the  seas. 

At  the  same  time  Miss  Helen  Murray  began 
work  at  Graaf  Reinet,  taking  charge  of  the 
Midland  Seminary,  with  twenty-five  boarders 
and  as  many  day  scholars,  until  Miss  Thayer 
and  Miss  Ayers  arrived,  six  months  later.  A 
revival  during  the  first  term  put  the  signifi- 
cant seal  of  God's  approval  on  the  work  at 
its  very  inception,  and  nearly  all  the  pupils 
rejoiced  in  Jesus.  In  1876  Miss  Lester  left 
Woodstock,  Conn.,  for  the  Bloemhof  Semi- 
nary at  Stellenbosch,  and  in  April,  four  years 
after,  was  transferred  to  a  similar  work  in 
Standerton,  in  the  Transvaal. 

During  1877  Messrs.  Andrew  and  Charles 
Murray  visited  America,  and  in  answer  to 
their  appeal  for  teachers,  thirtee?i  more  went 
to  Africa  that  year,  one  of  whom  went  eventu- 
ally to  Swellendam.     And  when,  in  Septem- 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     47 

ber,  1877,  the  Messrs.  Murray  returned,  Rev. 
George  R.  Ferguson,  brother  to  the  founder 
of  the  Huguenot  Seminary  at  Wellington, 
came  with  them  to  take  in  charge  a  new- 
school  or  institute  for  training  of  young  men 
as  evangelists  and  missionaries,  and  has  since 
been  engaged  in  that  work  at  Wellington. 

When  this  noble  band  of  workers  arrived, 
in  1877,  to  reinforce  the  educational  mission 
work  in  Africa,  a  feast  of  rejoicing  and 
thanksgiving  filled  an  "eight  days"  like  the 
feasts  of  ancient  Israel.  The  windows  were 
illumined,  the  flowers  hung  in  festoons  or 
bloomed  in  bouquets  "  like  as  "  on  an  Easter 
morning,  and  the  Lord  was  magnified  in  the 
praises  of  his  own.  One  day  twenty-seven 
Americans  dined  together  in  the  building 
where,  four  years  before,  two  teachers  began 
their  pioneer  work.  The  teachers  at  Graaf 
Reinet,  too  far  away  to  participate  in  person, 
flashed  greetings  over  the  electric  wires. 

After  a  few  days  the  new  teachers  began 
to  disperse  to  Worcester,  Graaf  Reinet,  Stel- 
lenbosch,  Beaufort  West,  Swellendam,  etc. 
Miss  Clary  chose  Prsetoria,  because  the  work 
there  was  most  difficult  and  discouraging;  and 
Miss  Ruggles  undertook  with  her  the  journey 


48  THE   MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

to  this  field  fifteen  hundred  miles  beyond 
Cape  Town. 

We  can  follow  no  further  this  fascinating 
story.  In  1880  eleven  schools  had  already 
been  established  in  South  Africa  under  the 
care  of  these  American  teachers — eight  in 
Cape  Colony,  two  in  the  Transvaal,  and  one 
in  the  Orange  Free  State.  Thirty-eight  ladies 
had,  previous  to  1881,  gone  out  from  America 
to  take  charge  of  this  work  of  education;  and 
the  devoted  man  of  God,  Rev.  Andrew  Mur- 
ray, has  generally  had  the  privilege  of  apply- 
ing for  teachers,  while  Mrs.  H.  B.  Allen,  of 
Meriden,  Conn,  (sister  of  Miss  Ferguson),  has 
cooperated  in  the  selection  of  those  who 
should  go. 

No  words  can  express  the  blessing  which 
has  come  through  this  period  of  almost 
twenty  years  to  the  whole  of  Africa  through 
these  grand  Christian  schools.  They  are 
building  light  houses,  not  at  the  Cape  only, 
but  all  through  the  Southern  half  of  the  Dark 
Continent.  We  doubt  whether  any  work  ever 
done  for  God  has  had,  from  the  inception, 
more  signal  tokens  of  His  approbation  and 
blessing. 

Those  who  have  visited  Graaf  Reinet  have 


THE  LIGHT  AT  THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE.     49 

remarked  that  it  stands  close  by  the  "  Valley 
of  Desolation,"  so  called  from  its  absolute 
barrenness  and  the  absence  of  life.  In  fact, 
Graaf  Reinet  is  itself  simply  a  section  of  that 
barren  waste  reclaimed  by  culture  and  irri- 
gation. How  completely  the  whole  aspect  of 
this  part  of  the  valley  has  been  transfigured 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
garden  of  Rev.  Charles  Murray  eighty  differ- 
ent species  or  varieties  of  roses  may  be  found 
in  bloom.  May  this  not  be  a  precious  symbol 
and  type  of  what  the  Huguenot  Seminary 
and  its  companion  schools  are  doing  for  the 
wild  wastes  of  the  Dark  Continent,  flashing 
out  rays  to  illumine  the  midnight,  and  send- 
ing forth  streams  to  irrigate  the  barrenness, 
until  where  darkness  and  dearth  abounded 
there  shall  be  a  radiance  as  of  a  morning 
without  clouds,  and  a  fertility  as  of  an 
earthly  Eden  ! 

"  The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place 
shall  be  glad  for  them;  and  the  desert  shall 
rejoice  and  blossom  like  the  garden  of  the 
Lord." 


No.    III. 

THE   "  LONE   STAR  "    MISSION. 

HE  Romance  of  Ongole  reads  like  a 
fairy  tale.  This  station  is  some  two 
hundred  miles  north  of  Madras,  in 
the  Telugu  country  of  India.  Some  thirty- 
seven  years  ago  Dr.  Jewett,  missionary  from 
Nellore,  in  the  service  of  the  American  Bap- 
tists, while  touring  in  this  thickly  settled 
region,  climbed  the  summit  of  a  mountain 
near  Ongole,  and  surveying  the  country  be- 
sought God  to  send  there  a  missionary.  For 
thirteen  years  that  prayer  seemed  lost.  But 
God  was  not  unmindful,  and  he  was  preparing 
a  workman  for  this  "  Lone  Star"  field,  which, 
in  1853,  at  the  anniversary  meetings  in  Al- 
bany, it  had  been  almost  determined  to 
abandon  as  a  fruitless  and  hopeless  enter- 
prise. 

Mr.  Clough,  a  civil  engineer,  became 
strangely  impressed  that  he  was  called  to 
this  field,  and  that  God  would  there  give  him 


THE    "  LONE    STAR        MISSION.  51 

ten  thousand  converts  in  a  great  and  marvel- 
ous ingathering.  It  seemed  to  be  the  wild 
fancy  of  a  vagarist  or  dreamer.  The  Baptist 
Board  hesitated  to  send  such  a  fanatic  to  the 
field.  But  he  persisted,  and  was  finally  ap- 
pointed to  the  Lone  Star  Mission.  Blessings 
have  crowned  his  work  that  have  thrilled  the 
whole  Christian  church  with  amazement  and 
gratitude,  and  which  deserve  record  among 
the  Miracles  of  Missions. 

The  Lord  has  often  used  the  locusts  and 
caterpillars  as  his  "  great  army,"  and  he  used 
the  famine  of  1877  as  his  messenger  to  pre- 
pare the  way.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  in 
the  Presidency  of  Madras  alone  three  millions 
of  people  perished  in  consequence,  and  in 
Mysore  and  Bombay  districts  two  and  a 
quarter  millions  more.  While  the  Brahmanic 
priesthood  and  the  heathen  people,  even  the 
rich,  looked  on  with  selfish  and  stolid  indiffer- 
ence, Christian  England  sent  a  relief  fund  of 
$4,000,000;  and  the  distribution  of  such  noble 
charities  among  this  alien  people  made  a 
profound  impression  on  the  native  mind,  and 
compelled  a  comparison  of  the  two  religions, 
which  was  by  no  means  favorable  to  Brah- 
manism  and  its  kindred  faiths. 


52  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

During  the  severest  pressure  of  famine  it 
became  obvious  why  God  had  chosen  a  civil 
engineer  for  this  emergency.  Mr.  Clough  was 
studying  to  provide  work  for  the  suffering 
masses  round  about  him.  He  went  to  the 
authorities  of  the  government  and  proposed 
to  undertake  the  construction  of  three  and  a 
half  miles  of  the  Buckingham  Canal,  in 
order  to  furnish  employment  and  food  for 
these  starving  thousands.  The  offer  was 
accepted.  After  the  day's  work  was  done 
these  people  gathered  in  camps  and  the 
Gospel  was  preached  to  them;  meetings  for 
prayer  and  praise  were  held,  inquirers  were 
guided,  and  converts  taught  and  encouraged. 
The  spirit  of  God  began  to  work  in  a  way 
and  on  a  scale  which  probably  has  had  no 
parallel  since  Pentecost.  Seed  that  had  been 
sown  now  rapidly  sprang  into  blade,  ear 
and  full-grown  corn  in  the  ear.  Idols  were 
flung  away  by  the  thousands,  and  even  the 
hundreds  of  thousands,  as  useless.  The  mis- 
sionaries were  thronged  by  inquirers,  and 
had  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat.  Lest  the 
sincerity  of  the  motives  of  the  converts 
should  be  questioned,  they  were  kept  on  a 
sort  of  probation  until  after  the  famine  had 


THE    "  LONE    STAR        MISSION.  53 

been  relieved  and  there  was  no  longer  the 
temptation  to  seek  the  church  as  a  charity- 
organization. 

As  soon  as  it  was  safe  to  receive  professed 
converts  they  poured  by  the  thousands  into 
the  church.  Between  June  and  December, 
1878,  nearly  ten  thousand  were,  after  diligent 
and  careful  examination,  received  into  the 
fold  by  baptism.  These  marvelous  ingather- 
ings were,  undoubtedly,  of  such  as  were  being 
saved.  They  have  proved  unusually  faithful, 
and,  after  ten  years,  the  work  still  goes  on. 
The  prayer  offered  on  that  mountain  has 
been  conspicuously  and  gloriously  answered, 
and  no  miracle  of  apostolic  days  more  plainly 
shows  the  finger  of  God.  The  immense  con- 
gregations, the  character  of  the  converts,  the 
theological  seminary  at  Ramapatam  with  its 
two  hundred  students,  and  the  transforma- 
tions to  be  seen  in  society  all  through  the 
Telugu  country,  prove  that  the  Lone  Star  has 
been,  and  still  is,  shining  with  supernatural 
beams  in  this  great  darkness. 

Mr.  Clough  has  been  permitted  to  do  effi- 
cient service  in  another  direction,  in  striking 
a  heroic  blow  at  the  monstrous  caste  system  of 
India.     His   first  arrival   in  the  country  was 


54  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

hailed  with  joy  by  the  high-caste  Brahmans, 
who  rejoiced  to  have  a  prospect  of  good 
schools  for  their  children.  They  promised 
their  support,  and  they  kept  their  word;  they 
placed  under  Mr.  Clough's  instruction  sixty- 
two  of  their  sons  and  paid  well  for  their  edu- 
cation. The  prosperity  of  the  schools  seemed 
to  be  on  a  firm  basis,  and  no  restraint  was 
put  upon  the  teaching  of  the  truth.  This 
spontaneous  and  generous  welcome  to  Chris- 
tian schools  was  the  opening  of  a  new  and 
wide  door  of  service. 

But  a  perplexity  arose.  Three  men  of  low 
caste  presented  themselves  as  converts  and 
were  welcomed  as  became  a  missionary  who 
believed  in  a  church  where  there  was  no  bar- 
barian, Scythian,  bond  or  free,  male  or  female 
but  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  caste  spirit  was  aroused  and  the  aris- 
tocratic Brahmans  indignantly  threatened 
that  if  Mr.  Clough  had  any  more  to  do  with 
the  outcast  Sudras  and  Pariahs,  all  the  sup- 
port of  the  higher  classes  would  at  once  be 
withdrawn  from  him  and  his  schools.  While 
he  hesitated  and  wavered,  scarcely  knowing 
what  course  to  take,  two  more  low-class  con- 
verts knocked  at  the  church  doors,  and  the 


THE    "LONE    STAR       MISSION.  55 

genuineness  of  their  conversion  demanded  a 
prompt  decision.  The  crisis  of  the  mission 
had  arrived.  The  horns  of  an  inevitable 
dilemma  threatened  to  impale  the  missionary, 
and  to  escape  the  one  was  to  cast  himself 
upon  the  other.  If  he  refused  the  low-caste 
converts,  what  became  of  the  democracy  of 
the  Christian  church  ?  If  he  admitted  them, 
what  became  of  his  aristocracy  and  the 
schools  dependent  on  the  high  caste  for 
support? 

He  consulted  his  wife,  and  they  both  re- 
tired by  agreement  to  separate  rooms  for 
prayer.  "  O  God,  guide  us  in  this  extremity 
of  the  mission,"  was  the  groaning  of  two 
hearts  whose  deeper  prayer  could  not  be 
uttered.  Simultaneously,  in  their  different 
rooms,  the  husband  and  wife  each  took  up  a 
Testament  from  a  pile  lying  before  them  for 
distribution  among  Eurasians  ;  and  without 
any  intention  of  opening  to  any  particular  place, 
both  husband  and  wife,  involuntarily,  uncon- 
sciously opened  to  the  same  passage  and 
verses — i  Cor.  i.  26-31  :  "  Ye  see  your  calling, 
brethren,  how  that  not  many  wise  men  after 
the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble 
are  called  :  but  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish, 


56  THE    MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

weak,  base,  despised,  the  things  which  are 
not,"  etc.  To  each  of  them  came  the  same 
thought :  "  I  see  it  :  I  have  not  been  building 
on  God's  plan ;  this  structure  must  come 
down  and  I  must  begin  anew."  The  wife  and 
husband  started  to  meet  each  other  and  com- 
municate with  each  other  the  direct  answer 
to  prayer  through  the  Word.  "  See  here," 
said  Mrs.  Clough,  "  what  I  have  been  read- 
ing." "  But  I  have  been  reading  the  same 
verses,"  replied  he  ;  "  did  you  know  it  ?" 
"  No,  indeed."  Thus  by  a  remarkable  coinci- 
dence God,  at  the  same  moment,  by  the  same 
means,  made  their  way  clear  as  day.  They 
were  to  build  the  church  like  a  pyramid,  from 
the  broad  base  of  the  lowest  classes  upward,  and 
the  base  must  be  broad  enough  to  take  in  the 
masses  of  the  poorest  and  basest  and  the 
weakest  and  most  despised. 

They  had  the  heroism  to  follow  the  divine 
guidance.  The  very  next  morning  they  made 
their  decision  public.  Every  pupil  left  the 
school,  and  the  financial  bottom  of  their  enter- 
prise collapsed  in  ruin.  The  friendship  of  the 
high  castes  was  changed  to  bitter  hostility. 
They  began  anew.  The  base  was  now  broad 
enough  to  embrace  all  who  would  come,  how- 


THE    "LONE    STAR"    MISSION.  57 

ever  poor  or  low.  And  on  that  basis  another 
structure  was  reared,  in  which,  strange  to 
say,  more  upper-caste  converts  have  been  built 
than  under  the  former  aristocratic  system  ! 

We  do  not  wonder  that  those  who  have 
studied  the  work  of  God  among  theTelugus 
have  regarded  it  as  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  modern  Christian  missions  in 
heathen  or  in  civilized  countries  ;  and  in  some 
of  its  features  and  aspects  as  suggesting  the 
Pentecostal  period  and  its  wonderful  scenes. 
The  present  condition  of  the  mission  is  full  of 
constant  promise  and  prophecy,  and  greater 
successes  in  the  near  future  are  confidently 
expected.  This  mission  is  evoking  the  best 
care  and  the  most  munificent  contributions  of 
the  Baptists  of  America,  and  we  all  gaze 
in  amazement  at  the  achievements  of  divine 
grace  and  power  among  these  ignorant  and 
degraded  Telugus.  A  short  time  ago  and 
what  was  said  of  the  work  among  the  people 
was  the  language  of  depreciation  and  dis- 
couragement, if  not  of  contempt.  Now  many 
pages  of  the  yearly  report  are  required  to  pre- 
sent only  the  merest  outlines  of  the  surprising 
successes  which  continue  to  crown  the  toils 
of  the  working  forces   in    the    Telugu  field. 


58  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

Large  and  eager  audiences  listened  with 
breathless  attention  for  nearly  two  hours  at  a 
time  while  Dr.  Clough,  who  was  at  home  on 
a  visit  narrated,  without  embellishment  or 
emotion,  the  simple,  extraordinary,  almost 
incredible  facts  of  his  labors  in  the  "  Lone 
Star  "  field.  No  mission  in  the  world,  prose- 
cuted by  any  Christian  denomination,  can  so 
arouse,  enlist,  and  compel  the  attention  of  a 
public  assembly  ;  no  mission  in  the  past  or 
in  the  present  has  a  record  so  marvelous,  and 
it  is  with  great  joy  that  we  observe  the  pro- 
vision being  made  for  the  proper  care  of  this 
large  body  of  converts.  At  Ongole,  the  great 
center  of  that  large  field  on  which  the  bless- 
ing of  God  has  been  so  bountifully  lavished, 
a  school  has  been  established,  for  which,  since 
Dr.  Clough's  recent  return  to  this  country, 
$10,000  have  been  subscribed  for  additional 
buildings.  Besides  this  he  also  raised  $10,000 
for  the  erection  of  two  mission-houses  in  Mad- 
ras. The  high-caste  people  cannot  be  reached 
and  influenced  by  the  Christian  disciples  in 
the  Telugu  churches  until  ignorance  gives 
place  to  intelligence.  The  theological  semin- 
ary at  Ramapatam,  under  the  management  of 
President  Williams,  is  doing  a  large  and  fine 


THE    "  LONE    STAR        MISSION.  59 

work  for  the  training  and  equipment  of  a 
native  ministry.  On  the  ist  of  July,  1887, 
there  was  completed  and  occupied  a  building 
that  will  favorably  compare  with  anything  of 
the  kind  that  can  be  found  among  the  other 
missions  of  Southern  India.  At  Nellore  is 
soon  to  be  built  the  Bucknell  Female  Semin- 
ary, a  school  for  the  training  of  Bible-women 
and  female  teachers  for  girls'  schools,  and  for 
this  building  one  gentleman,  Mr.  Bucknell  of 
Philadelphia,  has  given  $3,500. 

The  work  of  evangelization  is  being  carried 
steadily  and  vigorously  on.  The  conversions 
and  baptisms  since  the  great  awakening  and 
ingathering  in  1877-78  have  averaged  over 
2,000  souls  a  year.  Ten  years  later  there  were 
13  central  stations  and  205  outstations  in  this 
mission  ;  37  American  missionaries,  including 
the  women  of  the  company ;  174  native 
preachers,  ordained  and  unordained  ;  and  21 
Bible-women  and  other  native  helpers,  mak- 
ing a  total  working  force  of  323.  Within  a 
decade  of  years  one  church  had  grown  to  34, 
comprising  a  membership  of  nearly  25,000. 
There  were  baptized  in  1886  in  this  mission 
nearly  3,000  and  in  1891,  4,000.  Besides  the 
high   school  at  Ongole  and  the  theological 


60  THE   MIRACLES   OF.  MISSIONS. 

seminary  at  Ramapatam,  there  were  180  mis- 
sion schools  with  nearly  4,000  pupils  ;  and  all 
this  the  growth  of  about  eighteen  years ! 
There  was  much  sowing,  praying,  and  weep- 
ing for  some  years  prior  to  this  large  and 
splendid  harvest.  But  what  a  harvest  !  And 
it  still  continues  year  by  year,  and  no  prophet 
can  foretell  how  grand  may  be  the  abundance 
of  sheaves  yet  to  be  gathered. 


No.  IV. 

THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE   ELEPHANT. 

R^kMN    the  magic  tales  of    missions   Siam 

5  Pil     nas     not      Deen     very     conspicuous. 

-^-3-3  There  has  been  no  such  rapid,  start- 
ling, striking  development  of  results  as  has 
marked  the  South  Sea  Islands,  parts  of  India, 
Japan,  and  even  Papal  lands  like  France  and 
Italy.  In  Siam  the  kingdom  comes  without 
observation  ;  neither  do  men  say,  "  Lo  here  ! 
or  lo,  there  !  "  as  though  to  call  attention  to 
Borne  amazing  phenomenon.  Hence  by  some 
who  look  on  missions  with  hypercritical  and 
unsympathetic  eyes  silence  has  been  taken  to 
imply  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  said  that  is 
encouraging  as  to  past  toils  or  stimulating  as 
to  the  future  triumphs. 

For  this  very  reason  we  select  Siam  as  our 
next  theme.  Here  is  a  land  and  a  people, 
among  the  most  interesting  in  the  Orient, 
but  of  which  little  has  been  known  until  of 
late,  and  of  which  even  now  many  otherwise 

tfa 


62  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

intelligent  Christian  disciples  have  yet  to  be 
accurately  informed.  Owing  to  the  native 
custom  of  numbering  only  the  males,  it  is 
difficult  to  get  accurate  returns  of  the  popula- 
tion. But  probably  in  Siam  and  the  Laos 
country  there  are  not  far  from  eight  millions. 
In  other  words,  with  an  area  six  times  as 
great  as  the  State  of  New  York,  Siam  has  a 
population  about  equal  to  that  Empire  State. 
Its  capital,  Bangkok,  the  Venice  of  the  Orient, 
contains  itself  probably  half  a  million. 

We  smile  at  the  homage  there  paid  to  the 
"  strange  colored  "  elephant,  which  ranks 
among  the  nobility,  has  titles,  gold  bands  on 
his  tusks,  is  served  by  kneeling  attendants 
with  trays  of  silver,  and  is  sprinkled  with 
sacred  water  by  obsequious  priests,  and  at- 
tended by  court  physicians.  But  we  must 
not  judge  the  Siamese  by  this  homage  to  a 
beast  to  be  simply  a  degraded  and  supersti- 
tious nation  of  elephant  worshipers  ;  nor,  by 
the  shoe-brush  top  knot,  or  tuft  of  coarse 
black  hair  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  must  we 
infer  that  they  have  neither  taste  nor  man- 
ners nor  aesthetic  notions.  They  are  gentle, 
amiable,  respectful  to  parents  and  to  old  age, 
kind    to     children,    urbane    and     polite    to 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       63 

strangers,  above  the  average  in  cleanliness 
and  intelligence,  and  capable  of  high  culture 
and  refinement.  The  are  untruthful  and  con- 
ceited, polygamy  prevails  among  them,  gam- 
bling-houses abound,  and  men  have  been 
known  to  sell  their  own  wives  and  children 
to  pay  debts  incurred  in  this  fascinating 
"  vice  of  risk."  But  not  even  in  China  and 
India  have  women  such  freedom  and  intelli- 
gence and  ability  ;  and  in  few  countries  do 
wider  doors  to  mission  efforts  present  them- 
selves. Buddhism  is  here  found  in  its  purest 
and  most  unmixed  state,  with  its  virtual  athe- 
ism and  materialism,  and  wheels  of  endless 
transmigrations,  with  Nepon,  like  the  Brah- 
manistic  Nirvana,  the  goal  of  all  desire,  anni- 
hilation of  all  individual  being.  Idols  abound 
everywhere.  In  one  temple  as  many  as 
14,000  may  be  found  ;  and  in  Bangkok  alone 
are  200  temples  with  10,000  yellow-robed 
lazy  priests  supported  by  charity. 

The  conditions  were  not  inviting  to  mis 
sionary  labor  ;  and  to  complicate  the  ques- 
tion still  more,  the  Papal  church  had  carried 
its  corrupted  form  of  Christianity  into  Muang 
Ti,  "  The  Land  of  the  Free,"  as  early  as  1662, 
and  had  lowered  even  the  Romish  standard 


64  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

of  the  Gospel  to  a  level  scarce  above  that  of 
heathenism  itself,  seeking  to  win  converts  by 
accommodating,  if  not  assimilating,  Chris- 
tianity to  the  native  prejudices  and  customs. 
It  is  now  over  seventy  years  ago  since  the 
first  Protestant  approaches  were  made  to  that 
shrine  of  Buddhism  ;  and,  curiously  enough, 
it  was  woman  s  hand,  as  in  the  zenana  work  in 
India  and  the  evangelistic  work  in  Mexico, 
that  put  the  Gospel's  golden  key  in  the  door 
that  opened  into  Siam.  While  living  at  Ran- 
goon, in  Burmah,  Mrs.  Ann  Hasseltine  Jud- 
son  became  deeply  interested  in  the  Siamese 
residents  in  that  city.  On  the  last  day  of 
April,  1818,  she  wrote  to  a  friend  in  this 
country  as  follows  : 

"  Accompanying  is  a  catechism  in  Siamese 
which  I  have  just  copied  for  you.  I  have  at- 
tended to  the  Siamese  language  for  about  a 
year  and  a  half,  and,  with  the  assistance  of 
my  teacher,  have  translated  into  the  Siamese 
tongue  the  Burman  Catechism  just  prepared 
by  Dr.  Judson,  a  tract  containing  an  abstract 
of  Christianity,  and  the  Gospel  of  Mat- 
thew." 

A  very  simple,  unpretending  clause  in  pri- 
vate correspondence  ;  but  how  little  that  se- 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.        65 

raphic  woman  knew  its  full  significance  !  In 
1 81 9  that  catechism  came  forth  from  the  mis- 
sion press  at  Serampore,  the  first  Christian 
book  ever  printed  in  Siamese.  The  press  was  to 
be  one  of  God's  foremost  agencies  for  the 
regeneration  of  Siam,  and  to  a  woman  it  was 
given  to  set  that  agency  in  motion,  and  in  so 
doing  lead  Protestant  effort  in  Siam  ! 

Ten  years  after  Mrs.  Judson  wrote  that  let- 
ter, in  1828,  Dr.  Carl  Gutzlaff,  the  famous 
German  missionary,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Tomlin, 
visited  Bangkok,  treated  thousands  of  patients 
who  applied  for  medical  aid,  and  distributed 
boxes  of  books  and  tracts  in  the  Chinese 
tongue  ;  and  they  were  so  impressed  with  the 
need  of  Siam  and  the  open  door  to  the  mis- 
sionary, that  they  appealed  to  the  churches 
of  America  to  send  forth  laborers  into  this 
new  harvest  field.  Mr.  Tomlin's  health  com- 
pelled him  to  remove  to  Singapore,  and 
Gutzlaff  was  left  alone.  He  was  but  twenty- 
five  years  old  when  he  came  to  Bangkok,  and 
was  there  only  three  years  ;  but  those  years 
left  a  permanent  impress  on  Siamese  evan- 
gelization. In  1829,  Dr.  Gutzlaff  having  pre- 
pared in  Siamese  a  tract  and  one  Gospel, 
went  to  Singapore  to  print  them.  While  there 


66  THE    MIRACLES    OF   MISSIONS. 

he  married  Maria  Newell  and  brought  her 
back  to  Siam,  the  first  Christian  woman  that 
ever  labored  there.  She  died  the  next  year, 
and,  mourning  the  loss  of  his  devoted  and 
efficient  helper,  his  failing  health  drove  him 
to  China.  With  what  energy  and  devotion 
Dr.  Gutzlaff  had  spent  those  three  years  may 
be  inferred  from  his  not  only  learning  the 
language,  but,  with  Tomlin's  help,  translating 
into  Siamese  the  New  Testament.  Thus  what 
Mrs.  Judson   began,  Dr.  Gutzlaff  carried   on. 

In  June,  1831,  Rev.  David  Abeel,  sent  by 
the  American  Board,  arrived  in  Siam,  but 
after  eighteen  months  was  likewise  forced 
by  illness  to  withdraw.  In  1834  came  Rev. 
Messrs.  Johnson  and  Robinson,  and  in  1835, 
Dr.  D.  B.  Bradley.  For  thirty-eight  years 
Dr.  Bradley  was  permitted  to  labor  ;  and 
when,  in  1873,  he  died,  he  left  two  daughters, 
Mrs.  MacGilvary  and  Mrs.  Cheek,  wives  of 
missionaries,  to  represent  him  on  the  field. 

For  brevity's  sake  we  curtail  this  narrative 
of  Siamese  missions,  that  we  may  give  two 
illustrations  of  God's  wonder-working  in  this 
land,  where  the  eyes  of  so  few  ever  turn  with 
intelligent  and  absorbed  interest.  We  select, 
first,  a  marked  jnstance  of  supernatural  Prov- 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       67 

idence  j  and  then  some  equally  unmistakable 
examples  of  His  illumining  and  transforming 
grace. 

When,  in  1847,  Rev.  Stephen  Mattoon  and 
Dr.  Samuel  R.  House  arrived  at  Bangkok,  to 
represent  what  is,  since  the  withdrawal  of  the 
American  Board  and  of  the  American  Mis- 
sionary Society,  the  only  mission  to  the  Siamese 
— that  of  the  Presbyterians — they  found  scarce 
a  foothold.  The  king  then  on  the  throne  was 
actively,  though  secretly,  the  foe  of  missions; 
and  by  his  subtle  influence  with  the  people  he 
so  successfully  thwarted  the  missionaries  that 
they  could  scarce  get,  by  rental  or  purchase, 
a  house  in  which  to  live,  or  even  food  to  eat. 
That  same  monarch  so  became  involved  in 
complication  with  the  British  Government 
that  the  expulsion  of  missionaries  seemed 
inevitable  in  the  unsettled  state  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  excited  state  of  the  Siamese 
mind. 

It  was  now  185 1  ;  a  generation  had  passed 
away  since  Mrs.  Judson  made  that  first  ap- 
proach to  Siam,  and  the  entire  work  of  thirty- 
three  years  seemed  threatened  with  defeat 
and  disappointment,  all  through  the  inveter- 
ate hostility  and  obstinacy  of  the  king.     II» 


68  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

was  jealous  of  the  growing  influence  of  the 
missionaries  and  the  increased  "  merit  mak- 
ing "  of  the  physicians.  The  native  teachers 
had  been  thrown  into  prison,  the  servants  of 
the  missionaries  fled,  and  no  way  seemed 
open  but  a  way  out  of  Siam,as  soon  as  a  ship 
should  come  to  bear  them  away. 

Just  then — April  j>,  1851 — the  king  died,  in 
the  very  crisis  of  affairs.  God  was  again 
''known  by  the  judgment  which  He  execu- 
teth."  As  on  July  1,  1839,  *n  Turkey,  the 
Sultan  of  the  Universe,  at  a  similar  crisis  in 
missions  there,  and  in  a  similar  way,  removed 
the  tyrannical  Mahmud  who  had  just  ordered 
the  missionaries  out  of  the  country  ;  so  in 
185 1  the  Sovereign  in  whose  hand  our  very 
breath  is,  took  away  out  of  the  path  of  mis- 
sionary advance  an  otherwise  insuperable 
obstacle,  in  the  person  of  a  malignant  mon- 
arch. 

A  successor  must  be  chosen,  and  the  choice 
of  the  nobles  fell  upon  the  one  man,  who 
above  all  others,  as  God  saw,  would  remove 
all  restrictions  upon  the  legitimate  work  of 
the  missionaries.  Maha  Mongkut,  or  Prah 
Chautn  Klow  was  called  from  monastic  seclu- 
sion   to   sit  on    the   throne   of   the    "  Sacred 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       69 

Prahbahts."  His  enlightened  policy  at  once 
changed  the  whole  aspect  and  prospect  of 
Siamese  missions.  Educated,  liberal,  toler- 
ant ;  a  scholar  as  to  attainments  in  language 
and  literature,  science  and  general  intelli- 
gence ;  in  his  adoption  of  foreign  ideas  and 
improvements  a  progressive  statesman ;  in 
his  rule  wise,  humane  ;  in  his  bearing 
toward  foreign  residents  and  visitors  urbane 
and  courteous  ;  in  his  intercourse  with  for- 
eign powers  high-toned  and  conciliatory  ; 
and  in  his  aspirations  for  Siam  as  a  member 
of  the  family  of  nations  a  high-minded  pa- 
triot, he  had,  on  all  Oriental  thrones,  no 
rival.  Such  was  the  man  whom  the  Provi- 
dence of  God  lifted  to  the  Siamese  monar- 
chy at  the  most  critical  hour  of  modern  mis- 
sions in  that  land.  He  reigned  for  nearly 
eighteen  years,  from  1851  to  1868  ;  and  under 
his  rule  missionaries  have  found  not  only 
tolerance  but  influence,  and  that,  too,  not  only 
among  Siamese  citizens  but  at  the  Siamese 
Court. 

This  was  all  the  direct  fruit  of  missions  ;  for 
that  Buddhist  priest-king,  while  a  private  citi- 
zen, had  been  the  pupil  of  a  missionary  of  the 
American  Board,  Rev.  J.  Caswell,  who  taught 


7<>  THE    MIRACLES   OF    MISSIONS. 

him  the  languages  and  the  sciences  which 
prepared  him  for  taking  the  reins  of  empire 
into  competent  hands,  and  whose  personal 
influence  disposed  him  to  be  liberal  in  his 
governmental  policy,  and  friendly  to  all  Chris- 
tian missionaries.  He  ascended  the  golden 
steps  with  a  heart  full  of  kindly  sentiments 
toward  them  ;  they  were  invited  to  the  royal 
palace,  and  were  made  to  enjoy  the  royal 
bounty  and  favor.  Their  letters  at  this  time 
recount  how  their  society  was  courted  by 
princes  and  nobles  ;  how  their  exiled  teach- 
ers and  servants  returned  to  their  places ; 
how  throngs  came  to  them  to  get  books  and 
talk  of  their  contents  ;  and  how,  free  to  go 
and  come  as  they  would,  they  spoke  in  Jesus's 
name  with  confidence,  no  man  forbidding, 
and  obtained  a  respectful  hearing.  They 
could  now  get  suitable  sites  and  erect  suit- 
able buildings  for  homes  ;  and  in  that  same 
year  missionary  ladies  were  admitted  to  teach 
in  the  palace  among  the  women  of  the  royal 
harem.  From  that  hour  to  this  the  mission- 
aries have  been  sheltered  by  the  favor  and 
protection  of  the  reigning  monarchs. 

The  following  document,  issued  under  royal 
sanction,  may  give   some  conception  of  the 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       71 

attitude  of  Chaum  Klow  toward  the  servants 
of  God.     We  quote  in  full : 

"  Many  years  ago  the  American  mission- 
aries came  here.  They  came  before  any  of  the 
Europeans,  and  they  taught  the  Siamese  to 
speak  and  read  the  English  language.  The 
American  missionaries  have  always  been  just 
and  upright  men.  They  have  never  meddled 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Government,  nor  created 
any  difficulty  with  the  Siamese.  They  have 
lived  with  the  Siamese  just  as  if  they  be- 
longed to  the  nation.  The  Government  of 
Siam  has  great  love  and  respect  for  them  and 
has  no  fear  whatever  concerning  them.  When 
there  has  been  any  difficulty  of  any  kind,  the 
missionaries  have  many  times  rendered  valu- 
able assistance.  For  this  reason  the  Siamese 
have  loved  and  respected  them  for  a  long 
time.  The  Americans  have  also  taught  the 
Siamese  many  things." 

This  change  in  governmental  policy  proved 
permanent.  The  present  king,  Chulalang 
Korn,  is  the  most  progressive  ruler  in  Asia,  a 
"  nursing  father  "  to  missions.  In  1882  this 
king  bought  up  the  whole  exhibit  of  the  girls' 
mission  school  in  the  centennial  celebration, 
and  gave  to  the  principals  in  charge  a  silver 


72  THE    MIRACLES    OF   MISSIONS. 

medal.  He  has  made  a  missionary,  Dr.  Mac- 
Farland,  head  of  the  Royal  College  at  Bang- 
kok and  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
In  1887  he  visited  Petchaburi,  made  careful 
inquiry  as  to  the  mission  there,  gave  a  silver 
medal  to  Dr.  Thompson,  the  medical  mission- 
ary, and  with  his  queen  sent  letters  of  warm 
congratulation  to  our  laborers,  with  substan- 
tial gifts  from  himself  and  royal  wife,  amount- 
ing to  some  $2,500  ! 

We  turn  now  to  cite  a  few  marked  exam- 
ples of  the  grace  of  God  manifested  in  con- 
nection with  missions  in  Siam. 

The  first  convert  was  a  Chinese  teacher,  Qua 
Kieng,  who  was  baptized  in  1844,  and  after 
fifteen  years  of  faithful  service  died  in  1859. 
Three  of  his  children  became  disciples  and 
one  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  That  year  of 
his  death,  1859,  saw  the  first  Siamese  convert, 
Nai  Chime — a  curious  "  apostolic  succession." 
Thirty  years  before,  Gutzlaff  had  sown  the 
first  seed  ;  twelve  years  before,  Dr.  House 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Mattoon  had  arrived  in  Bang- 
kok, the  mission  center  ;  and  now  the  harvest 
had  begun.  Nai  Chune  adorned  the  Gospel. 
So  anxious  was  he  to  be  unhindered  in  serv- 
ing Christ  and  souls  that  he  steadily  adhered 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       73 

to  medical  practice  as  the  means  of  self-sup- 
port and  refused  all  offices,  however  honor- 
able and  lucrative. 

But  though  converts  have  never  multiplied 
in  Siam  with  rapidity,  there  have  been  marked 
examples  of  the  silent,  pervasive  work  of 
missions  and  especially  of  the  Word  of  God. 
For  example  Dr.  Bradley  died  in  1873.  Four 
years  afterward,  in  1877,  a  venerable  patriarch 
of  seventy-three  years  visited  for  medical 
advice  the  Laos  Mission  at  Chieng  Mai.  He 
sought  help  for  deafness,  and  referred  to 
Christ's  miracles  of  healing  as  one  who  was 
familiar  with  the  Bible.  He  was  found  to  be 
chief  officer  of  the  court  in  the  province  of 
Lakawn.  How  mistaken  we  are  when  we 
judge  the  Gospel's  power  by  noisy  demonstra- 
tions !  Twenty  years  before,  in  1857,  while 
visiting  Bangkok,  this  old  man  had,  from  Dr. 
Bradley,  received  religious  books  in  Siamese. 
Though  the  language  is  essentially  the  same, 
the  Laonese  characters  are  so  different  that, 
in  order  to  read  them,  he  had  to  learn  Siam- 
ese. Then  in  his  mind  and  heart  God's  light 
began  to  shine,  and  he  came  to  Chieng  Mai 
for  further  instruction  ;  he  found  Christ,  and 
for  His  sake  braved  all  peril,  and  to  his  efforts 


74  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

we  owe  the  opening  of  a  new  mission  in  his 
native  city,  Lakawn. 

Similarly,  at  Petchaburi,  Rev.  Mr.  Dunlap 
found  an  old  disciple,  nigh  unto  death,  who 
had  from  that  same  Dr.  Bradley  got  por- 
tions of  the  Word  of  God,  and  who  by  secret 
study  found  a  Saviour  in  Christ  and  put  away 
his  idols.  Though  taught  to  pray  by  the 
Spirit  only,  he  astonished  the  missionary  by 
his  attainments  in  prayer  and  his  progress  in 
piety. 

Numbers  cannot  represent  results.  During 
the  year  1887  the  Prime  Minister,  who  had  in 
Ratbari  one  of  his  residences,  after  repeatedly 
expressing  his  wish  for  a  mission  there,  of- 
fered a  large  brick  house,  free,  for  mission 
uses,  and  promised  aid  in  securing  other  nec- 
essary buildings  for  medical  mission,  school, 
etc.  ;  and  a  lady  in  Philadelphia  offered  the 
$5,000  necessary  to  support  a  physician  and 
clergyman  to  occupy  this  new  parish  of  from 
50,000  to  75,000  souls. 

Siam  was  not  opened  by  gunpowder  or  di- 
plomacy, but  by  missionary  influence,  and 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  nation,  and  its  atti- 
tude toward  Christianity,  are  gradually  under- 
going a  change  ;  the  preaching,  the  teaching, 


THE    LAND    OF    THE    WHITE    ELEPHANT.       75 

the  press,  and  the  medical  missions  are  the 
four  conspicuous  agencies  which  God  is  now 
using  to  bring  Siam  to  Christ.  With  what 
results,  a  single  example  may  give  a  hint, 
showing  the  possibilities  of  the  near  future. 

When  the  present  king,  by  a  sad  accident, 
some  years  since,  lost  his  wife,  his  brother 
came  to  the  missionaries  for  a  copy  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  gave  as  a  reason  for  the 
request;  that  the  king  had  lost  faith  inhis  own 
religion  j  that  he  could  find  nothing  in  Bud- 
dhism to  console  him  in  his  great  grief.  It 
might  cost  the  king  his  crown,  or  even  his 
life,  to  renounce  the  State  religion  ;  yet  this 
bereaved  monarch  flies  to  the  Christian's 
Bible  for  the  solace  that  his  Pagan  creed  can- 
not supply  !  Siam  may  be  much  nearer  to 
becoming  a  Christian  nation  than  we  think  ! 

The  additional  fact  should  be  put  on  record 
that  the  first  zenana  teaching  ever  attempted 
in  the  East  was  by  missionary  women,  in 
185 1,  among  the  thirty  "vives  and  royal  sisters 
of  the  King  of  Siam. 


No.  V. 

AMONG    THE    WYNDS    IN    GLASGOW.1 

jOVE  is  omnipotent.  Wherever  pas- 
sion for  souls  burns  there  we  may- 
find  a  new  mount  of  transfiguration, 
where  the  earthly  takes  on  the  complexion 
of  the  heavenly.  Let  us  find  an  example  of 
the  power  of  such  love  and  holy  passion  in 
one  of  the  cities  of  Scotland. 

It  is  now  a  little  more  than  forty  years  ago 
since  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  under- 
took work  as  an  agent  in  the  Glasgow  City- 
Mission.  Even  before  he  was  fully  accepted 
as  a  missionary  by  the  directors  of  the  work, 
he  began  his  apprenticeship  by  visits  at  every 
house  in  one  of  the  lowest  districts,  and  by  con- 
versing with  every  person  there  encountered 
as  to  eternal  things.  The  whole  salary  he 
was  to  receive  for  a  year's  work  was  less  than 
two  hundred  dollars;  and  the   section  of  the 


1,1  Life  of   John  G.  Paton,"  missionary   to  the  New 
Hebrides.     London:  Hodder  &  Stoughton. 
76 


AMONG    THE    WYNDS    IN    GLASGOW.  77 

city  appointed  to  him  was  especially  needy 
and  destitute,  and  particularly  difficult  as  a 
field  of  labor.  It  had  never  yet  been  occu- 
pied and  was  in  the  worst  respect  pioneer 
ground.  It  has  been  well  said  that  he  who 
is  not  ready  to  preach  the  Gospel  everywhere 
and  anywhere  is  fit  to  preach  nowhere  ;  and 
we  are  more  and  more  persuaded  that  if  every 
candidate  for  the  office  of  the  ministry  were 
first  tried  in  some  such  field  it  would  prove  a 
training  in  its  way  more  profitable  than  any 
discipline  in  the  class-room,  and  would 
"  shake  the  napkin  at  the  four  corners,"  and 
disclose  whether  or  not  there  were  in  it  even 
"one  talent"  for  winning  souls.  What  a 
preparation  for  practical  dealing  with  men 
and  women  and  children  ;  with  people  of 
every  variety  of  temper  and  temperament,  of 
thought  and  opinion,  of  character  and  life, 
would  such  an  experience  be  ! 

But  we  anticipate.  The  young  man,  who 
took  up  that  work  in  that  most  degraded  dis- 
trict in  the  great  Scotch  Manchester,  was  John 
G.  Paton,  afterwards  the  devoted  missionary 
to  the  New  Hebrides,  a  man  whose  biography, 
just  issued  from  the  press  of  Hodder  & 
Stoughton,    is    unsurpassed    for    stimulating 


78  HE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

and  inspiring  narrative  by  any  existing  story 
of  heroism.  Mr.  Paton  found  that  many 
families  around  the  Green  street  of  Calton 
had  never  been  visited  by  any  minister ;  and 
there  were  lapsed  church  members  who,  for 
ten  and  even  twenty  years,  had  never  been  in 
a  church  building,  and  had  not  been  called 
on  even  by  a  Christian  visitor.  Of  course, 
in  such  classes  and  courts  the  worst  con- 
ditions of  society  were  to  be  found.  Drunken- 
ness, infidelity,  licentiousness,  blasphemy, 
ran  riot ;  and  there  was  no  religion  to  set  up 
any  barrier  against  them  save  Romanism  in 
its  most  ignorant  and  superstitious  form. 
Sin  and  vice  walked  about  openly,  naked  and 
not  ashamed. 

Four  hours  a  day  were  spent  in  nouse-to- 
house  visits.  Little  prayer  circles,  or  larger 
evening  meetings,  with  personal  sympathetic 
contact,  were  the  means  mostly  used  to  reach 
and  relieve  all  this  misery  of  soul  and  body. 
A  Sabbath  evening  evangelistic  service  was 
very  needful  ;  but  the  only  available  place 
for  it  was  a  hay-loft,  with  cow-stalls  below 
and  a  rickety  wooden  staircase  as  an  outside 
approach.  After  a  year's  hard  work  Mr. 
Paton    could    show   only    six  or   seven    non- 


AMONG  THE  WYNDS  IN  GLASGOW.      79 

church  goers  whom  he  had  persuaded  to 
come  regularly  to  this  rude  assembly  room, 
besides  about  as  many  more  who  on  a  week 
night  met  in  a  humble  room  of  a  house  of 
the  poor.  That  very  house  was  a  scene  of 
Gospel  triumphs.  The  hardworking  Irish- 
woman who  lived  there  had  a  husband  whom 
the  demon  of  drink  had  turned  into  a  monster, 
and  who  cruelly  beat  her  and  pawned  for 
accursed  rum  everything  of  value.  Through 
the  influence  of  these  night  meetings  this  man 
became  a  total  abstainer,  abandoned  his  evil 
doing,  and  not  only  attended  Sabbath  wor- 
ship regularly,  but  urged  others  both  to  be- 
come abstainers  from  drink  and  attendants 
at  worship.  This  man  and  this  woman  be- 
came the  first  real  helpers  of  Mr.  Paton  in 
his  self-denying  work  in  the  wynds  of  Glas- 
gow. 

Still  the  result  of  twelve  months'  work  were 
so  small  that  the  directors  inclined  to  aban- 
don Green  street  as  a  hopeless  and  fruitless 
field  and  try  some  other  section  of  the  great 
city.  But  Mr.  Paton's  heart  had  become  en- 
listed, and  he,  who  afterward  at  hourly  risk 
of  life  persisted  in  abiding  among  the  canni- 
bals of  Tanna,  pleaded  for  another  six  months 


80  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

among  Green  street  heathen.  He  obtained 
permission  ;  and  at  the  next  meeting  told  his 
little  congregation  that  if  he  could  not  induce 
more  non-church-goers  to  attend  he  would 
be  sent  to  work  elsewhere.  Few  as  they 
were,  they  had  already  learned  to  believe  in 
Mr.  Paton  and  to  love  him,  and  they  remem- 
bered that  first  lesson  in  arithmetic,  "  two 
times  one  is  two  ;"  and  so  each  one  prese  *t 
agreed  to  come  to  the  next  meeting  and  to 
bring  one  more.  Of  course  that  simple  and 
easy  method  at  once  doubled  the  attendance. 
When  people  learn  this  practical  multipli- 
cation table,  it  is  surprising  what  wonders 
are  wrought.  From  this  time  forth  no  house 
that  could  be  had  in  that  whole  district  was 
big  enough  for  the  meeting.  A  Bible  class, 
singing  class,  communicants'  class,  Total 
Abstinence  Society,  Mutual  Improvement  So- 
ciety, etc.,  were  instituted.  Beside  the  usual 
services,  two  prayer  meetings  were  opened 
for  the  policemen,  one  for  those  who  were  on 
day  duty,  and  one  for  those  on  night  duty. 
Mr.  Paton  now  found  every  evening  in  the 
week  occupied  with  his  work,  and  every  Sab- 
bath brought  two  public  services. 

And  now  the  hay-loft  had  to  be  abandoned, 


AMONG    THE    WYNDS    IN    GLASGOW.  8l 

for  the  owner  required  it,  and  the  poor  people 
were  at  a  loss  for  any  other  place  of  assembly. 
The  hostlers  and  other  servants  of  a  certain 
coach  hirer,  Menzies  by  name,  got  permis- 
sion to  clear  out  another  unused  hay-loft,  and 
at  their  own  cost  built  an  outside  stair  for 
approach,  to  the  great  relief  of  the  little  con 
gregation.  Mr.  Paton  shared  the  general  joy, 
but  felt  that,  if  the  work  were  to  prosper,  a 
permanent  building  of  some  sort  must  be  had 
which  they  could  control  ;  and  with  the  help 
of  Thomas  Binnie,  Esq.,  secured  not  only  a 
good  site,  but  a  Mission  Hall  was  projected 
at  Mr.  Binnie's  own  expense.  Just  then  a 
block  of  buildings  being  offered  for  sale, 
singularly  adapted  for  the  purpose,  this 
generous  benefactor  persuaded  Dr.  Syming- 
ton's congregation,  in  connection  with  which 
this  mission  work  was  carried  on,  to  buy  the 
whole  block  ;  and  so,  at  the  crisis  of  the  work, 
God's  providence  put  at  the  disposal  of  Mr. 
Paton  and  his  mission  buildings  suitable  both 
for  evangelistic  and  educational  work. 

Of  course  the  time  had  now  come  for  re- 
organizing and  enlarging  this  work.  At  7 
a.  m.  on  the  Lord's  day,  Mr.  Paton  held  a 
class  for  Bible  study,  where  from   seventy  to 


8*  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

one  hundred  of  the  poorest  young  men  and 
women  of  the  vicinity  were  gathered.  They 
came  in  their  work  clothes,  for  they  had  but 
one  suit,  all  without  coverings  for  their  heads 
and  some  without  shoes  for  their  feet.  Mr. 
Paton  remarked  with  joy  how  contact  with 
the  Gospel  brought  improvement  even  in 
dress  and  manners.  Gradually  the  atten- 
dants began  to  come  in  better  and  more  com- 
plete attire,  fitter  for  such  assemblies  ;  then 
they  were  emboldened  to  "  go  to  church"; 
and  then  to  bring  others  with  them.  Their 
teacher's  joy  in  his  work  was  ecstatic,  but  it 
was  not  reached  by  any  dainty  and  delicate 
steps.  At  six  o'clock  every  Sunday  morning 
this  indefatigable  worker  might  have  been 
seen  running  from  street  to  street,  and  from 
door  to  door  for  an  hour,  drumming  up  his 
recruits.  He  knocked  and  called,  till  he 
roused  the  careless  and  the  sleepy  ;  and  by 
dint  of  such  perseverance  he  got  together 
and  kept  together  that  early  morning  Bible 
class.  At  a  later  stage  in  its  history,  a  band 
of  voluntary  visitors  from  the  class  itself 
undertook  to  relieve  him  and  look  after  the 
irregular,  indifferent,  and  tardy  members. 
On  Monday  nights  this  devoted  city  mis- 


AMONG  THE  WYNDS  IN  GLASGOW.      83 

sionary  held  a  sort  of  Bible  reading  for  all 
who  chose  to  come;  on  Wednesday  evenings 
a  combined  Bible  lecture  and  prayer  service 
that  half  filled  the  church;  and  on  Thursdays 
an  Intending  Communicants'  class  for  the 
instruction  of  those  who  wished  to  confess 
Christ  and  join  any  one  of  the  Protestant 
churches  in  the  city.  Friday  evening  brought 
a  singing  class  for  church  music,  and  Satur- 
day, a  total  abstinence  meeting,  in  which  the 
members  themselves  conducted  the  varied 
exercises.  Mr.  Paton  testifies  to  the  great 
influence  and  power  of  Temperance  as  the 
handmaid  of  the  Gospel.  He  himself  being 
a  total  abstainer  both  from  liquor  and  tobacco, 
he  found  himself  the  more  able  to  influence 
others  to  forego  these  injurious  indulgences. 

Thus  this  mission,  which  began  with  so 
little  promise,  became  a  feeder  to  all  the 
churches,  training  active  and  useful  members 
for  neighboring  congregations;  not  only 
so,  but  it  became  a  kind  of  theological  semi- 
nary in  which  eight  lads  got  their  first  lessons 
in  Latin  and  Greek  from  Mr.  Paton's  little 
stock,  and  their  training  for  the  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  and  winning  souls. 

And  now  this  Calton  Mission  grew  rapidly 


84  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

to  unrivaled  dimensions.  From  500  to  600 
were  in  weekly  attendance,  exclusively  poor 
wage-workers  and  very  largely  mill -workers. 
The  results  were  wide-spreading  and  far- 
reaching.  Habits  improved,  personal  appear- 
ance and  the  whole  environment  ;  many  re- 
moved to  better  localities.  But  Mr.  Paton  kept 
watch  and  hold  upon  them  until  he  saw  them 
safely  housed  in  some  church.  Often  his 
four  hours  of  daily  labor  which  were  "  nomi- 
nated in  the  bond,"  expanded  to  double  that 
time.  He  trained  eight  or  ten  devoted  young 
men  and  twice  as  many  young  women  as 
visitors  and  tract  distributors,  and  twice  a 
month  they  went  on  their  rounds  of  visits. 
At  monthly  meetings  of  workers,  reports 
were  made  and  matters  of  importance  brought 
to  notice.  Mr.  Paton  found  himself  the  head 
of  a  sort  of  Bureau  of  Tract  Distribution, 
Relief,  and  Employment. 

All  this  work  for  God  and  His  poor  could 
not  be  carried  on  without  antagonism.  The 
keepers  of  the  public-houses  saw  the  Total 
Abstinence  Society  making  fearful  inroads 
on  their  destructive  business,  and  they  were 
ready  for  any  act  of  underhanded  or  open- 
handed  violence.     Mr.   Paton  held,  on  sum- 


AMONG  THE  WYNDS  IN  GLASGOW.     85 

mer  nights  and  Saturday  afternoons,  evan- 
gelistic and  total  abstinence  meetings  in 
Thomson's  Lane.  The  top  of  an  outside 
staircase  furnished  a  ready  pulpit,  and  the 
audiences  were  large,  though  the  Gospel  had 
no  meretricious  charms  of  art  and  aesthetics 
by  which  to  "  draw."  Complaints  were  made 
by  these  tavern-keepers  to  the  captain  of  the 
police  that  these  meetings  were  hurting  their 
trade.  Fortunately  the  complaint  was  true, 
though  in  another  sense  from  that  intended 
by  the  complainants.  The  captain  happened 
to  be  himself  a  pious  Wesleyan,  and  he  in- 
formed Mr.  Paton  of  the  complaints  and  of 
the  attendance  of  his  police  force,  but  bade 
him  go  on  and  conduct  the  meeting  as  usual. 
A  large  crowd  gathered,  and  among  them 
many  of  the  dram-sellers  and  their  minions, 
expecting  to  see  the  police  break  up  the 
meeting  and  humiliate  the  missionary  and 
his  helpers.  The  police  appeared  in  force, 
headed  by  Captain  Baker,  and  the  foes  of  the 
mission  were  jubilant  in  anticipation  of  a 
row.  But  the  meeting  proceeded  in  so  or- 
derly a  fashion  that  Captain  Baker  himself 
surprised  both  friends  and  foes  by  mounting 
the  platform   and  devoutly  listening  till   the 


86  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

close.  Thus  the  whiskey  ring  had  to  "  wait 
out  "  the  service  and  hear  the  Gospel — which 
was  not  a  frequent  experience.  And  at  the 
end  of  the  service  Captain  Baker,  instead  of 
breaking  up  the  meeting,  or  prohibiting 
others  like  it,  spoke  warmly  in  favor  of  the 
work  and  wished  it  God  speed. 

So  the  enraged  dram-sellers  planned  an- 
other assault.  The  next  Saturday  evening,  a 
spirit-dealer  ran  his  van  in  front  of  the  iron 
gate-way  of  the  church  which  was  the  only 
place  of  egress  for  the  assembled  multitude. 
Two  young  men  were  sent  by  Mr.  Paton  to 
drag  away  the  wagon  ;  they  were  seized  and 
marched  off  to  the  police  office  for  "injuring 
the  whiskey-dealer's  property  " !  and  when 
Mr.  Paton  ran  after  them  to  ask  their  offense, 
he  was  threatened  also  with  similar  arrest  if 
he  did  not  cease  his  interference.  He  went 
with  them  to  the  station.  The  rumor  flew 
that  the  missionary  and  his  young  men  were 
being  "  taken  up  "  by  the  police,  and  a  crowd 
ran  to  the  rescue  ;  but  Mr.  Paton  begged 
them  to  refrain  from  all  disturbance.  The 
lieutenant  on  duty  was  manifestly  in  league 
with  the  conspirators,  and  no  justice  would 
have  been   done  but  for   the   interference  of 


AMONG    THE    WYNDS    IN    GLASGOW.  87 

some  gentleman  who  threatened  to  expose 
the  whole  outrage,  and  the  accused  parties 
were  suddenly  set  at  liberty. 

Romanism  and  skepticism  likewise  opposed 
the  work;  and  Mr.  Paton  at  first  tried  to 
offset  their  influence  by  lectures  with  free  dis- 
cussion at  the  close,  but  he  became  satisfied 
that  he  was  only  advertising  the  devil's 
wares,  and  he  abandoned  all  defensive 
methods  for  the  simple  preaching  of  the 
Gospel. 

We  cannot  close  this  remarkable  chapter  of 
city  missions  without  an  example  or  two  of 
the  wondrous  power  of  the  Gospel  in  these 
wynds.  An  infidel  lecturer  in  that  district 
was  very  sick,  and  Mr.  Paton  was  called  to" 
see  him.  He  found  him  in  the  midst  of  a 
library  of  infidel  publications  which  he 
eagerly  circulated  to  poison  the  minds  of  the 
unwary.  Whatever  little  he  knew  of  the  Word 
of  God  was  only  sufficient  to  feather  the  ar- 
rows of  his  ridicule.  But  now  he  felt  himself 
taking  that  awful  "  leap  into  the  dark,"  and 
his  mind  was  full  of  terror  at  the  "unknown." 
Mr.  Paton's  visits  were  so  blessed  even  to 
that  hardened  sinner,  that  another  wonder, 
like  that  of  Ephesus,  occurred,     With  cries 


88  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

and  tears  for  pardon  and  peace,  he  became  a 
penitent  believer  and  called  in  all  the  infidei 
works  he  had  set  in  circulation,  piled  them 
together  after  his  wife  and  daughter  had  torn 
them  in  pieces,  and  he  himself  struck  the 
light  that  turned  the  pile  to  ashes.1  That 
man  was  so  completely  transformed  by  that 
simple  Gospel  message  that  he  not  only 
abandoned  his  infidelity  and  ceased  to  be  a 
panderer  and  procurer  for  the  devil,  but  till 
the  close  of  life  continued  to  witness  to  souls, 
and  thereby  to  win  souls. 

The  district  where  Mr.  Paton  labored  was 
so  degiaded  and  depraved  that  he  not  un- 
frequently  came  upon  those  who  seemed  to 
be  possessed  of  a  demon.  He  met  an  infidel 
whose  blasphemies  made  even  his  vile  neigh- 
bors shudder  ;  and  who  even  as  death  ap- 
proached would  not  hear  a  word  of  Gospel 
comfort,  but  foamed  with  rage  and  even  spat 
at  Mr.  Paton  when  he  mentioned  the  name  of 
Jesus.  His  hatred  to  God  seemed  to  drive 
him  mad.  He  yelled  like  a  demoniac,  and 
tore  to  pieces  his  very  bedclothes,  till  he  had 
to  be  bound  to  his  iron  bed,  still  foaming  out 


»  Compare  Acts  xix  :  17-20. 


AMONG    THE    WYNDS    IN    GLASGOW.  89 

curses  and  blasphemies.  When  the  humble 
missionary  asked  if  he  might  pray  for  him, 
he  shouted  with  all  his  remaining  strength, 
"  Pray  for  me  to  the  Devil  !  "  And  when 
Mr.  Paton  reminded  him  that  he  had  declared 
that  he  did  not  believe  in  either  God  or  devil, 
he  shouted  again  in  terrific  rage,  "  Yes,  I  do 
believe  in  a  devil  and  a  God,  and  a  just  God, 
too  ;  but  I  have  hated  Him  in  life  and  I  hate 
Him  in  death  !  " 

Yet,  even  into  such  a  "  mouth  of  hell"  went 
this  fearless  young  missionary,  even  there  to 
rescue  souls;  and  he  did  it !  He  was  called 
to  see  a  doctor  who  was  both  an  unbeliever 
and  a  drunkard.  In  his  attacks  of  delirium 
tremens  he  had  tried  one  and  another  method 
of  suicide.  At  one  time  the  watchers  barely 
succeeded  in  dashing  from  his  lips,  after  a 
fierce  struggle,  a  fatal  draught  of  prussic 
acid;  again  they  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  shin- 
ing lancet  hid  in  the  folds  of  his  shirt,  with 
which  he  would  have  bled  himself  to  death. 
In  one  of  these  fits  of  suicidal  madness  Mr. 
Paton,  at  his  request,  took  a  seat  beside 
him,  alone,  he  having  first  promised  that  he 
would  do  anything  the  missionary  would  ask, 
if  every  one    else  might  be   put   out  of   the 


90  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

room.  After  a  long  conversation  Mr.  Paton 
took  down  a  dusty  Bible  that  had  long  lain 
neglected  in  the  closet,  and,  after  reading, 
said  : 

"  Now,  shall  we  pray  ?" 

"  Yes,"  said  the  doctor;  and,  kneeling 
beside  him,  the  missionary  whispered: 

"  You  pray  first." 

"I  curse.  I  cannot  pray;  would  you  have 
me  curse  God  to  his  face  ?" 

"  You  promised  to  do  all  that  I  asked.  You 
must  pray  or  try  to  pray,  and  let  me,  at  least 
hear  that  you  cannot." 

"I  cannot  curse  God  on  my  knees;  let  me 
stand,  and  I  will  curse  him;  I  cannot  prav." 

Mr.  Paton  gently  but  firmly  held  him  on 
his  knees,  saying: 

"  Just  try  to  pray,  and  let  me  hear  that  you 
cannot." 

Instantly  he  cried  out  : 

"  O  Lord,  thou  knowest  I  cannot  pray," 
and  strove  to  rise  up  as  though  Satan  were 
struggling  within  him  to  turn  that  beginning 
of  prayer  into  a  curse.  But  the  noble  win- 
ner of  souls  took  up  that  unfinished  prayer 
and  continued  it  as  though  it  were  his  own, 
till    the    old   blasphemer   was    subdued    and 


AMONG  THE  WYNDS  IN  GLASGOW.     91 

quiet  at  the  feet  of  the  Master.  Then,  in- 
ducing him  to  lie  down  and  sitting  beside 
him  till  he  fell  asleep,  Mr.  Paton  commended 
him  to  the  care  of  the  Lord,  and  slipped  away 
to  other  duties.  Returning  later  in  the  day, 
the  poor  victim  of  delirium  was  found  in  his 
right  mind;  nay,  running  to  meet  the  mis- 
sionary, he  hugged  him  in  his  arms,  crying: 
"  Thank  God,  I  can  pray  now  !  I  rose  re- 
freshed from  sleep,  and  for  the  first  time  in 
my  life  prayed  with  my  wife  and  children; 
and  now  I  shall  do  so  every  day  and  serve 
God  while  I  live,  who  hath  dealt  in  so  great 
mercy  with  me  !"  And  so  he  did,  joining  Dr. 
Symington's  church,  and  giving  his  medical 
skill  to  a  holy  ministry  to  God's  destitute 
little  ones,  as  anxious  for  their  souls  as  their 
bodies,  until  he,  who  once  could  not  pray, 
but  only  curse,  fell  sweetly  asleep  in  Jesus,  to 
wake  where  there  is  "  no  more  curse." 

What  wonder  that  even  anonymous  letters, 
threatening  his  life,  and  the  public  curses 
from  the  altar  by  Romish  priests,  and  the 
advice  of  directors  of  the  mission,  could  not 
induce  this  brave  city  missionary  to  leave  a 
work  attended  by  such  supernatural  power 
of  God.  For  ten  years  he  struggled  patiently 


92  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

on,  though  he  was  at  one  time  felled  to  the 
ground  by  a  stone  hurled  at  him  by  a  malig- 
nant Papist,  and  marvelously  escaped  assault 
after  assault  upon  his  life.  While  we  sit  quietly 
at  home  in  our  easy  chairs,  or  go  about  mak- 
ing rousing  addresses,  or  write  with  burning 
pens  on  city  evangelization  or  the  estrange- 
ment of  the  masses  from  the  church,  here  is 
one  man  who  dives  into  the  depths  of  all  this 
depravity  and  degradation,  and  demonstrates 
what  love  and  the  Gospel  can  do  to  rescue 
drowning  souls  ! 


No.  VI. 


THE    SYRIAN    MARTYR. 


YRIA  presents  another  of  the  unmis- 
takable   signs   of    the    supernatural 
power  at  work  in  the  great   field  of 
missions. 

Asaad  Shidiak  was  the  secretary  of  the 
Maronite  Patriarch.  When  the  lamented  and 
beloved  Pliny  Fisk,  after  kissing  the  lips  of 
the  dying  Levi  Parsons,  in  Alexandria,  him- 
self returned  to  Jerusalem  to  follow  his 
friend,  within  two  years,  he  wrote,  in  his  last 
hours,  a  farewell  letter  to  Dr.  Jonas  King, 
and  while  Messrs.  Bird  and  Goodell  sat  by 
his  pillow  and  listened  for  his  dying  words, 
he  passed  away,  mourned  even  by  weeping 
Arabs.  About  this  time,  sixty-six  years  ago 
(1825),  there  was  a  remarkable  state  of  relig- 
ious inquiry.  There  was  moving  in  Syria  the 
same  Power  that  moved  there  at  the  first 
Pentecost  in  Jerusalem,  and  afterward  in 
Cesarea  and  Antioch.     Men  were  pricked  in 

93 


94  THE    MIRACLES   OF    MISSIONS. 

their  hearts  and  came  to  the  missionaries  to 
learn  the  truth,  being  convinced  of  the  shal- 
lowness and  emptiness  of  their  own  religious 
systems.  At  the  same  time  rose  the  persecut- 
ing spirit,  which  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  interfered  with  missionary  work  in 
Syria.  The  Sultan  issued  his  firman  to  all 
the  pachas  of  Western  Asia  prohibiting  the 
circulation  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  Mar- 
onite  converts  had  to  face  death  like  the  mar- 
tyrs of  the  first  centuries. 

Asaad  Shidiak,  the  secretary  of  the  Maron- 
ite  Patriarch,  and  afterward  the  tutor  of 
Jonas  King,  was  employed  to  copy  Mr. 
King's  farewell  letter  from  Pliny  Fisk.  And 
he  attempted  to  answer  it.  As  he  reached 
the  last  page  of  his  reply,  like  a  flash  of 
lightning  the  truth  struck  him.  He  saw  that 
he  was  arguing  against  his  own  reason  and 
conscience  and  opposing  the  higher  teaching 
of  the  divine  Spirit.  He  was  intellectually 
honest,  and,  seeing  himself  in  error,  was  can- 
did enough  to  acknowledge  it  and  surrender 
himself  to  his  convictions.  The  heart  makes 
the  theology,  and  his  heart  gave  up  the 
rebellious  attitude  which  had  led  him  to  de- 
part from  the  living  God.     He  dared  to  say 


THE    SYRIAN    MARTYR.  95 

that  he  saw  himself  in  error  and  openly  for- 
sook it.  The  Patriarch  tried  persuasion.  He 
wrote  him  patriarchal  epistles,  and  sent  him 
enticing,  and  then  mandatory  messages  ;  he 
promised  him  official  promotion,  he  sought  to 
bribe  his  conscience  to  compromise  with  his 
convictions  ;  then  he  threatened  him  with 
excommunication  and  all  the  terrors  of  the 
Church's  indignation.    But  it  was  all  in  vain. 

He  sought  to  win  and  to  warn  him  by  per- 
sonal interviews,  but  ineffectually.  Then 
Asaad  Shidiak's  marriage  contract  was  an- 
nulled, but  even  against  the  beguilements  of 
woman's  love,  the  convert  proved  heroically 
steadfast.  Twenty  of  his  relatives  conspire 
against  him,  and  by  force  deliver  him  into 
the  Patriarch's  hands,  and  by  the  Patriarch 
he  is  cast  into  prison.  He  is  confined  to  a 
cell,  loaded  with  chains,  and  tortured  daily 
with  cruel  scourgings.  The  people  are  al- 
lowed to  visit  him,  to  revile  and  mock  him, 
and  to  spit  in  his  face  as  they  had  done  with 
his  Master  before  him.  His  own  kindred 
joined  in  this  cruel  persecution,  and  not  only 
would  not  interpose  to  secure  his  release,  but 
opposed  it. 

Once   they  led    Asaad  Shidiak   out  of  his 


g6  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

dungeon  and  placed  before  him  an  image  of 
the  Virgin  to  be  kissed  by  him  in  token  of 
homage  and  recantation  of  error.  The  alter- 
native was  a  vessel  of  burning  coals.  He 
chose  the  burning  coals,  pressed  them  to  his 
lips,  and  with  a  scorched  and  blackened 
mouth  returned  to  his  cell.  At  length  they 
built  up  entirely  around  him  a  wall,  leaving 
but  a  small  aperture  through  which  he  could 
get  breath,  and  through  which  they  could 
pass  him  enough  food  to  keep  him  alive,  and 
so  prolong  the  sufferings  of  the  starving  man. 
His  body  wasted  and  became  a  skeleton,  but 
his  mind  was  invincible.  His  heroic  spirit 
defied  them  to  break  the  cord  of  love  that 
bound  him  to  his  Lord.  They  killed  the  body, 
but  after  that  had  no  more  that  they  could 
do  ;  and  before  that  body  gave  up  the  ghost, 
Asaad  Shidiak,  the  Maronite  martyr,  had 
proved  to  them  that  they  could  not  subdue 
the  spirit  of  one  whom  the  Lord  had  led  into 
the  clear  light  of  His  own  truth  and  the  fel- 
lowship of  His  dear  S«>n.  Syria  had  once 
more  sealed  with  the  martyr's  blood  the 
testimony  of  Jesus ! 


No.  VII. 

MISSION     TO     THE     HALF     MILLION    OF    BLIND    IN 
CHINA.1 

NE  of  those  marvelous  adaptations 
of  history  which  so  signally  evince 
and  evidence  a  divine  plan,  and 
which  has  recently  appeared  in  the  Celestial 
Empire. 

William  H.  Murray  was  born  at  Port  Dun- 
das,  near  Glasgow,  and,  as  the  only  son  in  a 
family  of  ten  children,  would  naturally  have 
entered  the  saw-mill  of  his  humble  father 
but  for  the  loss  of  his  left  arm  by  accidental 
contact  with  the  machinery  when  only  about 
nine  years  old.  This  occurrence,  which  de- 
termined his  future  as  outside  the  saw-mill, 
was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  providential 
events  which  have  made  him  the  most  con- 
spicuous benefactor  of  China's  blind  people 


i  "Work  for  the    Blind  in  China."      C.  F.  Gordon 
dimming.     Gilbert  &  Rivington,  London,  England. 


97 


98  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

that  has  ever  appeared  in  that  vast  empire. 
With  but  one  arm,  he  could  not  labor  physi- 
cally to  much  purpose;  but,  though  he  lacked 
brawn,  he  had  brain,  and  he  could  study.  He 
improved  his  mind,  and  before  long  was  em- 
ployed in  the  rural  districts  near  Glasgow  as 
a  letter-carrier.  His  conscience  was  not 
asleep,  and  remonstrated  against  the  Sunday 
work  which  this  occupation  required.  To 
avoid  compromise  with  his  moral  sense,  and 
at  the  same  time  retain  his  position,  he  sur- 
rendered two  shillings  out  of  each  week's 
wages.  His  self-sacrifice  was  not  only  blest 
to  himself,  but  sowed  the  seeds  of  that  exten- 
sive reform  now  in  progress  to  secure  for 
Government  employes  in  the  postal  service  a 
Sabbath  respite  from  work. 

Brain  and  conscience  thus  being  busy, 
voung  Murray  found  his  heart  awaking  to  a 
new  longing  to  be  of  service.  He  felt  within 
him  a  consciousness  of  a  call  to  some  mission 
among  men,  he  knew  not  what.  He  applied 
to  the  National  Bible  Society  of  Scotland  for 
work  as  a  colporteur.  The  secretary  felt 
drawn  to  the  modest  but  persistent  lad,  but 
hesitated  to  have  him  give  up  a  good  position 
in  Government  service  for  a  venture  which 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  99 

might  prove  a  failure.  But  William  Murray 
"  prayed  himself  "  into  the  work  of  the  soci- 
ety. His  long  daily  walk  he  divided  into 
three  parts:  a  third  of  the  way  he  studied  the 
Scriptures  in  the  original  Hebrew;  another 
third  of  his  monotonous  tramp  he  gave  to 
New  Testament  Greek;  and  the  last  part  of 
his  walk  was  emphatically  a  walk  with  God, 
consecrated  to  daily  prayer  that  he  might  be 
fitted  for  some,  sphere  of  personal,  direct  mis- 
sionary service.  He  longed  to  be  promoted 
from  a  royal  mail-carrier  to  a  messenger  of 
good-tidings  to  the  King  of  Kings.  In  1864, 
now  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  he 
was  accepted  as  a  colporteur  of  the  Bible 
Society  and  began  work  on  the  Clyde,  among 
the  sailors  and  seamen.  Here  was  a  new  link 
in  the  chain  which  connected  the  saw-mill  in 
Scotland  with  this  great  work  of  opening  the 
inner  eyes  of  the  blind  in  China. 

The  Bible  Society  soon  found  that  "  it 
never  had  had  such  another  colporteur"  as 
the  quiet  young  man  who,  without  any  great 
mental  endowments,  graces  of  person,  or  gifts 
of  speech,  was  drawing  to  himself  the  men 
that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  to  do  busi- 
ness in  great  waters,  and  was  rapidly  picking 


100  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

up  such  phrases  in  various  foreign  tongues  as 
enabled  him  to  effect  more  sales  of  Bibles 
among  sailors  of  all  nations  than  any  of  his 
predecessors  had  done.  The  colporteur  was 
evidently  a  divinely  called  man. 

As  this  work  occupied  him  only  in  winter 
months,  he  was  free  in  the  summer  season  to 
push  his  Bible  cart  along  the  rough  roads  of 
the  Scotch  Highlands.  One-armed  as  he 
was,  he  had  two  legs  and  a  brave  heart,  and 
so  he  patiently  carried  on  his  work,  getting 
inured  to  hardness  as  became  a  good  soldier 
of  Jesus  Christ.  How  many  a  mighty  work 
man  and  winner  of  souls  has  been  trained 
like  Milne  and  Morrison  and  Carey  and 
Oncken  and  Livingstone  and  McAuley  and 
Johnson  and  Marshman  and  Buchanan  and 
Clough,  in  a  very  strange  school. 

And  now  comes  another  link  in  this  provi- 
dential chain.  William  Murray's  unusual 
aptitude  for  languages  attracted  the  notice 
of  some  of  the  directors  of  the  Bible  Society, 
and  arrangements  were  made  for  him  to 
attend  morning  classes  at  the  old  college  in 
High  street.  A  friend  helped  to  pay  the 
necessary  fees,  and  Murray  managed  his 
studies  so  that  they  did  not  impinge  upon 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  IOl 

other  duties.  He  rose  at  3  a.m.  and  studied 
till  8,  then  attended  his  classes  till  10,  then 
stood  in  the  streets  beside  his  Bible  cart  till 
evening,  when,  after  a  frugal  meal,  he  studied 
again  till  bedtime. 

Seven  years  of  apprenticeship  were  accom- 
plished, and  in  187 1  he  was  free  to  carry  out 
his  heart's  desire.  He  sailed  for  China,  where 
he  was  to  spend  half  a  year  at  Chefoo,  trying 
to  learn  to  distinguish  at  sight  the  4,000  intri- 
cate, complicate  characters  by  which  the 
Chinese  language  is  represented  on  paper.  It 
has  been  quaintly  said  that  he  who  would 
master  the  Chinese  tongue  needs  a  head  of 
oak,  a  constitution  of  iron,  lungs  of  brass, 
nerves  of  steel,  the  patience  of  Job,  and  the 
lifetime  of  Methuselah.  But  Mr.  Murray  was 
not  to  be  easily  discouraged.  He  had  tackled 
Greek  and  Hebrew  characters,  and  he  was 
not  dismayed  at  the  still  more  elaborate  mys- 
teries of  Chinese  words.  He  applied  himself 
diligently,  and  in  four  months  he  acquired 
about  2,000  characters.  The  Bible  colporteur 
started  on  his  work.  He  devised  a  mule  litter 
to  carry  his  books,  and  over  mountain  roads, 
facing  cold  winds,  he  made  his  first  journey,  250 
miles,  into  the  interior  of  Shangtu  province. 


102  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

Sixteen  years  of  untiring  work  as  a  colpor- 
teur passed  away,  during  which  this  one- 
armed  man  undertook  journeys  even  into 
Mongolia  and  Manchuria,  fording  rivers,  dar- 
ing perils,  enduring  hardship,  feeding  on 
wretched  fare,  sleeping  in  rude  sheds,  or  per- 
haps favored  with  more  palatial  accommoda- 
tions in  the  shape  of  the  coffin  which  dutiful 
sons  had  with  filial  tenderness  provided  foi 
their  father  in  anticipation  of  his  need,  and 
which  the  generous  host  put  at  disposal  of 
the  traveler.  Mr.  Murray  sometimes  found 
himself  in  the  midst  of  a  riotous  rabble,  but 
again  surrounded  by  those  who  clamored  for 
the  foreign  "  Classic  of  Jesus,"  and  on  one 
occasion  he  found  at  evening  that  his  sales 
had  reached  3,000  copies  ;  then  the  people 
begged  him  to  remain  among  them,  and  he 
did  so  for  half  a  year.  During  his  sixteen 
years  in  China  he  has  sold  over  100,000  books, 
containing  wholly  or  in  part  the  Scriptures  in 
the  tongues  of  China  and  Tartary.  These 
Bibles  have  found  their  way  into  humble  huts 
of  poverty,  and  even  into  the  imperial  palace  ; 
have  been  borne  to  great  distances  by  mer- 
chants and  scholars  who  have  bought  them' 
at  fairs  and  public  gatherings,   and  so  this 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  103 

modest  man  has  been  permeating  this  vast 
empire  with  the  Light  of  God. 

But  now  we  come  to  another  link  in  this 
strange  story  of  a  useful  life.  Mr.  Murray- 
saw  in  the  thronged  streets  hundreds  of  blind 
men,  sometimes  in  groups  or  gangs  of  eight 
or  ten,  each  one  guided  by  another  blind  man 
in  front,  and  the  foremost  guiding  himself 
and  all  the  others  with  a  long  stick — "  the 
blind  leading  the  blind."  On  one  occasion  a 
company  of  600  blind  beggars  was  seen  wait- 
ing for  a  free  distribution  of  rice  !  It  is 
thought  that  there  are  half  a  million  of  blind 
in  China,  and  that  this  very  unusual  propor- 
tion of  blind  people  is  traceable  to  smallpox, 
leprosy,  neglected  ophthalmia,  uncleanly  hab- 
its, and  the  dense  smoke  created  in  their 
dwellings  by  the  dried  grass  with  which  their 
ovens  are  heated.  For  generations  these  sights 
have  been  seen  in  the  Celestial  Empire — 
blind  beggars,  hungry  and  unclad,  beating 
gongs,  singing  songs,  yelling  in  chorus, 
squeaking  with  flutes,  or  otherwise  torturing 
the  defenseless  ears  of  bystanders  until 
"  cash  "  was  given  them  simply  to  induce  them 
to  move  on  and  torture  somebody  else. 

These  blind  legions  of  China  awaken  a  sort 


104  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

of  pity  and  even  reverence  by  their  very  in- 
firmity and  misery,  and  are  addressed  by  title 
of  "Teacher" — Hsien  Sheng — but  the  most 
of  the  adult  blind  are  so  hopelessly  vile  that 
Mr.  Murray  himself  has  never  ventured  into 
their  night  refuge  in  Peking,  but  seeks  to  iso- 
late and  educate  the  blind  lads,  beginning 
with  them  when  but  seven  years  old. 

But  we  are  anticipating.  His  soul  was 
strangely  drawn  out  in  behalf  of  these  thou- 
sands of  blind  children.  His  appeals  to 
others  in  their  behalf  were  met  by  the  usual 
response,  that  the  work  already  on  their  hands 
was  too  great  to  be  done  with  the  few  helpers 
and  slender  means  at  their  command.  And 
so  his  only  way  was  once  more  to  "  walk  with 
God  "  in  prayer  for  guidance  and  help.  The 
Bible  colporteur  must  himself  undertake  to 
help  these  sightless  crowds. 

Here  we  touch  another  link.  Mr.  Murray, 
before  he  left  Scotland,  had  mastered  Profes- 
sor Melville  Bell's  "  System  of  Visible  Speech 
for  the  Deaf,"  and  had  found  it  so  great  a 
help  in  his  Chinese  studies  that  he  had  pre- 
pared a  pamphlet  upon  it  for  use  of  foreign 
students.  The  thought  flashed  on  his  mind 
that  this  system  might  be  modified  so  as  to 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  I05 

become  eyes  to  the  blind  as  well  as  ears  to  the 
deaf.  He  saw  that  the  fingers  of  the  blind 
must  take  the  place  of  eyes,  and  that  the  first 
step  was  to  reduce  the  sounds  of  the  language 
to  symbolic  forms.  These  he  made  in  clay  and 
baked  ;  and  from  these  the  blind  were  first 
taught  to  read.  But  two  difficulties  presented 
themselves  :  first,  the  system  lacked  simplic- 
ity, and,  secondly,  as  the  Chinese  adore  their 
written  characters,  they  might  worship  these 
clay  symbols. 

While  in  Glasgow  Mr.  Murray  had  also 
studied  Moon's  "  System  of  Embossed  Alpha- 
betic Symbols "  and  Braille's  "  Embossed 
Dots."  Perhaps  these  might  be  adapted  to 
the  perplexing  "  tones  "  which  make  it  possible 
for  one  word  to  mean  a  dozen  different  and 
absurdly  contradictory  things.  How  to  bring 
all  these  linguistic  mysteries  within  the  touch 
of  the  blind  was  the  problem  over  which  Wil- 
liam Murray  thought  by  day  and  dreamed  by 
night.  One  day,  weary  with  work,  he  lay 
down  for  a  noon  nap,  when,  while  yet  awake 
though  with  closed  eyes,  he  saw  outspread 
before  him  the  whole  system  he  has  since  put 
in  available  form  for  use,  and  perceived  that 
it  would  enable  the  blind  to  read  accurately 


106  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

and  ;n  a  short  time  the  Word  of  God.  He 
believes  that  vision  to  have  been  a  revelation 
to  him  from  above.  He  made  no  attempt  at 
an  alphabetic  system,  but  employed  numer- 
als. He  found  that,  instead  of  the  ordinary 
4,000  characters,  a  little  over  one-tenth  of  that 
number  would  suffice  to  represent  the  sounds 
of  the  language,  viz.,  408  distinct  syllables. 
Instead  of  figures  he  uses  mnemonic  letters, 
and  ingeniously  contrives  that  not  more  than 
three  syllables  shall  be  used  to  represent  the 
longest  word,  corresponding  to  units,  tens, 
and  hundreds.  He  found  Braille's  system  to 
be  more  helpful  than  Moon's,  as  being  fitted 
both  for  writing  and   musical  notation. 

So  practicable  has  this  method  proved  that 
a  thorough  acquaintance  with  both  reading 
and  writing  may  be  acquired  by  a  blind  boy 
of  average  faculty  in  from  six  weeks  to  two 
months,  whereas  six  years  of  study  would  be 
required  for  seeing  eyes  to  recognize  the 
4,000  distinct  characters  of  the  ordinary  writ- 
ten language. 

For  eight  long  years  Mr.  Murray  worked 
to  perfect  the  system  which  he  saw  in  theory 
in  that  day-vision,  and  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  he  could   devote  only  odd  hours 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN   CHINA.  107 

not  already  taken  up  with  his  Bible  work. 
His  first  practical  test  was  upon  "Wang,"  a 
rheumatic  blind  cripple,  who  soon  learned  to 
read  for  himself  the  blessed  Word.  Then  a 
poor  blind  patient,  who  had  been  severely 
kicked  by  a  mule,  relieved  the  hours  of  suffer- 
ing by  studying  the  Murray  system,  and  with- 
in two  months  even  his  callous  fingers  could 
feel  the  precious  truth  of  God.  Then  a  poor 
blind  lad,  left  on  a  dunghill  to  die,  after  three 
months  nursing  was  restored  to  health,  and 
learned  to  read  and  write.  Next  a  blind  beg- 
gar boy,  an  orphan  taken  in  out  of  a  winter's 
cold,  within  six  weeks  read  more  accurately 
and  fluently  without  eyes,  than  many  do  with 
eyes  in  a  score  of  years. 

Miss  Constance  F.  Gordon  Cumming,  to 
whose  golden  pen  missionary  literature  owes 
so  much,  visiting  Peking,  was  astonished  as 
she  stood  at  the  door  of  a  dark  room  to  hear 
the  Scriptures  read  by  the  touch  by  men 
who,  not  four  months  before,  begged  in  the 
streets,  half  naked  and  half  starved.  And 
the  marvel  is  that  this  Bible  colporteur,  this 
consecrated  workingman,  has  been  doing  this 
work  alone,  from  his  slender  income  board- 
ing,   lodging,    and    clothing    his    poor    blind 


Io8  THE    MIRACLES    OP    MISSIONS. 

pupils  !  He  seemed  to  hear  the  Master  say- 
once  more,  "  Give  ye  them  to  eat,"  and  so  he 
brought  his  barley  loaves  to  Him  to  be  blessed 
and  multiplied,  and  they  have  strangely  suf- 
ficed for  others'  wants  as  well  as  his  own. 
One  boy  of  twelve,  left  in  his  charge  by  an 
elder  brother,  and  then  left  on  his  hands, 
though  blind,  not  only  rapidly  learned  to 
read  and  write,  but  became  his  main  depend- 
ence in  stereotyping  and  all  other  work, 
and  developed  such  musical  ability  as  to  be- 
come the  organist  in  the  chapel  of  the  Lon- 
don Mission. 

The  rumor  of  this  wonderful  school  for 
blind  pupils  has  spread  far  and  wide,  and 
some  have  come  300  miles  to  study  the  sys- 
tem. One  pupil  developed  singular  fitness 
for  the  ministry  and  was  sent  to  Tien-Tsin 
as  a  candidate  for  the  work.  Another  has 
undertaken  to  stereotype  an  embossed  Gos- 
pel according  to  Matthew,  in  the  classical 
Mandarin  dialect  of  scholars  throughout  the 
empire.  The  work  is  but  at  its  beginning, 
for  there  must  be  at  least  eight  different  ver- 
sions reduced  to  the  dot  system  before  the 
blind  of  the  different  provinces  can  find  the 
system   available   to   represent    the    various 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLINET  IN  CHINA.  109 

colloquial  dialects.  The  ingenuity  of  Mr. 
Murray  reminds  us  of  Bezaleel  and  Aholiab, 
whom  God  by  His  Spirit  endowed  for  the 
mechanical  work  of  the  tabernacle.  He  has 
so  simplified  stereotyping  in  connection  with 
his  method  of  instruction  that  a  Chinese  lad 
will  produce  in  a  day  more  than  three  times 
us  many  pages  as  an  ordinary  London  work- 
man by  the  common  method.  Thus  God  is 
using  the  special  sensitiveness  of  the  fingers 
of  the  blind  and  their  proverbial  aptitude  for 
music,  to  raise  up  blind  readers  of  the  Word 
and  blind  singers  and  players  on  instruments, 
who  may  make  Music  the  handmaid  of  Evan- 
gelism. The  system,  as  we  have  said,  is  sin- 
gularly adapted  to  represent,  not  only  the 
sounds  used  in  speech,  but  in  music  too.  The 
Peking  pupils  write  out  musical  scores  from 
dictation  with  such  rapidity  that  an  ordinary 
"  Gospel  song  "  will  be  produced  in  a  quarter 
of  an  hour.  By  means  of  embossed  symbols 
pasted  to  the  keys  they  also  learn  to  play  the 
piano  and  organ.  The  written  score  being 
read  with  one  hand  and  the  music  played 
with  the  other,  the  student  soon  learns  both  to 
sing  and  play  by  note.  Then  these  Christian 
songs  are  made  a    means    of    attracting    an 


IIO  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

audience,  to  whom  one  of  the  blind  students 
then  addresses  his  exhortation,  and  whom  he 
recommends  to  buy  and  study  the  Bible  for 
themselves.  And  so  a  blind  boy  will  often 
sell  more  books  in  a  day  than  the  authorized 
agent   of  the  Bible  Society. 

Here  we  reach  another  link  in  this  chain  of 
providential  purpose.  We  see  why  Mr.  Mur- 
ray was  sent  to  China  as  a  Bible  colporteur. 
His  bookselling  and  street  preaching  bring 
him  and  keep  him  on  familiar  and  friendly 
terms  with  the  natives  and  prevent  his  being 
thought  a  mere  magician  or  conjurer  who  by 
some  weird  power  turns  fingers  into  eyes. 
Moreover,  the  superstitious  respect  felt  for 
written  characters  and  all  who  can  read 
them,  together  with  the  reverence  and  pity 
toward  the  blind,  seem  to  open  a  new  and 
wonderful  avenue  of  usefulness  to  these  blind 
Scripture  readers  and  singing  evangelists. 
Mr.  Murray  ought  to  be  enabled  to  devote  at 
least  half  his  time  to  this  work  of  instructing 
the  blind,  and  abundant  means  ought  to  be 
given  him  to  multiply  his  schools  in  every 
part  of  the  empire.  This  new  development  in 
China  suggests  a  key  that  may  open  the  doors 
to  150,000,000  secluded  Chinese  women.  A  blind 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  Ill 

woman  taught  to  read  the  scriptures  may  find 
her  way  to  homes  from  which  all  missionaries 
are  practically  excluded.  As  yet  popular  prej- 
udice has  prevented  Mr.  Murray  from  teach- 
ing but  one  blind  woman,  who  in  a  few 
months  mastered  reading,  writing,  and  musi- 
cal notation. 

Mr.  Murray,  having  often  known  genuine 
converts  who  had  found  salvation  solely 
through  reading  the  Word,  and  who  sought 
of  him  Christian  baptism,  has  been  granted 
ordination  and  so  returned  from  his  visit  to 
Scotland  in  1887  empowered  to  do  the  whole 
work  of  a  Christian  minister,  and  will  devote 
his  time  to  the  preparation  of  books  for  the 
use  of  the  blind  and  instructing  those  to 
whom  God  has  denied  the  gift  of  sight.  Who 
can  forsee  to  what  extent  the  Providence  that 
raised  up  this  man  for  this  unique  work  may 
be  pleased  to  use  him  for  the  evangelization 
of  the  hundreds  of  millions  in  China,  trans- 
forming blind  beggars  into  Scripture  readers 
and  teachers  of  others  blind  also,  so  that  it 
shall  be  true  in  a  new  sense  that  the  blind  lead 
the  blind,  but  not  into  the  ditch.  The  words 
of  Isaiah  shall  be  fulfilled:  "  I  will  bring  the 
blind  by  a  way  that  they  know  not  ;  I  will 


112  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

lead  them  in  paths  that  they  have  not  known; 
I  will  make  darkness  light  before  them  and 
crooked  things  straight."     Isaiah  xii:   16. 

For  the  sake  alike  of  completeness  to  this 
paper  and  for  the  information  of  those  who 
are  specially  interested,  we  append  a  brief 
r/sume  of  Murray's  "  System  for  Teaching  the 
Blind  of  China." 

He  says  : 

The  plan  that  would  most  naturally  com- 
mend itself  to  one  wishing  to  teach  the 
blind,  would  be  to  adopt  phonetic  spelling.  I 
found,  however,  that  "  numeral  "  spelling  was 
greatly  to  be  preferred. 

Chinese,  as  a  spoken  language,  may  be  re- 
duced to  408  syllables.  Now  I  take  a  repre- 
sentative written  hieroglyphic  of  each  of 
these  408  syllables,  and  for  my  own  conven- 
ience place  them  in  alphabetic  order  in  a 
horizontal  line.  The  Chinese  know  nothing 
of  alphabetics. 

Then  in  a  line  running  parallel  above  that 
line  of  representative  sounds,  I  write  its 
equivalent  in  numerals  ;  but  instead  of 
figures  I  use  mnemonic  letters,  vis.,  T  or  D 
represents  1,  N  stands  for  2,  M  is  3,  R  is  4, 
L  stands  for  5,  Sh  is  6,  K  is  7,  F  or  V  means 
8,  P  or  B  is  9,  and  S  stands  for  o, 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  II3 

Then,  as  the  Chinese  have  no  alphabet,  I 
choose  simply  syllables,  as  Ti  for  simple  T  or 
D,  Ni  or  No  for  Q,  etc.  Therefore  the  two 
lines  run  thus : 

Ti  Ni  Mi  Rhi  Li : — mnemonics. 

Gna  Gnai  Gnan  Gnang  Gnao: — Chinese. 

Shih  Kei  Fei  Pei  Tze  : — mnemonics. 

Cha  C'ha  Chai  C'hai  Chan  : — Chinese. 

EXPLANATION. 

These  are  the  first  ten  mnemonic  words. 
Chinese  equivalents  that  stand  for  the  num- 
bers, and  written  in  a  large  character,  begin 
the  sentence,  which,  according  to  the  custom 
of  ordinary  Chinese  books,  is  written  per- 
pendicularly, and  is  read  from  top  to  bottom. 

The  underline  represents  ten  of  the  408 
Chinese  syllables,  and  these,  also  in  a  larger 
character  than  the  intermediary  ones,  are  at 
the  bottom,  and  finish  the  sentence.  Thus  : 
Ti,  shih,  shuan,  tsai,  t'ien,  shang,  che,  hua, 
shih,  nan,  hsin,  GNA. 

There  are  thus  408  simple  sentences,  and 
the  pupil  is  required  to  commit  these  to 
memory,  and  thenceforth,  to  write  the  one, 
and  read  it  as  the  other.  This  he  does  like 
a  chain  of  events,  and  in  a  very  short  time,  at 
a  rate  of  about  twenty  sentences  in  a  day. 
This  is,  in  fact,  his  spelling  lesson.  I  know 
that  this  description  must  appear  complicated, 


114  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

but  in  daily  practice  it  is  found  to  be  quite 
the  reverse. 

The  superiority  of  this  method  over  "  spell- 
ing "  is  immense.  As  an  example  of  its  ad- 
vantage I  would  instance  the  Chinese  word 
"  C'huang  Q  " — a  bed.  It  would  require 
eight  letters  to  spell  this  word,  but  by  this 
plan  I  only  need  three,  i.  e.,  units,  tens,  and 
hundreds.  There  are  no  spaces  or  contrac- 
tions to  be  a  burden  to  the  memory. 

Then  we  only  require  ten  numerals  for  our 
"alphabet."  But  I  saw  the  advantage  of  em- 
ploying the  other  letters  thus:  namely,  using 
the  deep  letters,  as  K,  L,  M,  N,  in  four  sets 
of  four  to  stand  in  the  first  space  to  repre- 
sent the  hundreds,  and  by  that  means  they 
would  answer  a  double  purpose,  namely,  in- 
dicate also  to  which  of  the  four  "  tones  "  the 
word  belongs,  each  having  a  choice  of  four 
letters  for  each  of  the  408  sounds. 

Let  the  sound  and  the  number  of  its  tone 
be  indicated  along  with  its  aspirate,  which 
is  thus — C'huang  Q,  and  be  understood  to  be 
the  hundredth  in  the  order  of  the  syllabary ; 
and  as  regards  the  four  "tones"  to  belong  in 
that  sense  (i.e.,  a  bed)  to  the  second.  The 
letters  K,  L,  M,  N  equal  100,  and  in  that 
order  indicate  the  1st,  2d,  3d,  or  4th  tone. 
Then  LOO  equals  C'huang   Q.      A   person 


MISSION  TO  THE  BLIND  IN  CHINA.  I15 

acquainted  with  the  Braille  alphabet  will  per- 
ceive that  as  only  three  letters  are  thus  re- 
quired, the  L  takes  top,  middle,  and  lowest 
points,  while  the  first  line  of  Braille  which  sup- 
plies tens  and  units  has  only  top  and  middle 
points,  and  consequently  the  word  has  always 
one  deep  letter  and  two  hollow,  making  a 
wedge-like  form  ;  hence  there  is  no  need  to 
separate  the  words  in  writing,  and  thus  all 
space  between  words  is  saved,  which  of  itself 
is  no  small  gain,  and  at  the  same  time  greatly 
simplifies  the  fingering  to  the  reader. 

When  time,  material,  expense,  storage,  and 
porterage  are  considered,  it  will  be  seen  how 
important  are  all  these  points  which  tend  to 
reduce  the  inevitable  bulk  of  books  for  the 
blind.  The  fact  of  each  word  being  repre- 
sented by  three  letters,  and  having  thus  a 
definite  length  and  somewhat  triangular 
form,  is  a  great  advantage  in  stereotyping. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  I  could  simplify  the 
process  of  stereotyping  ;  so  instead  of  holding 
the  punch  in  one  hand,  and  having  only  the 
tip  of  the  little  finger  to  guide,  while  the 
other  hand  holds  the  mallet,  I  designed  a 
table  with  a  lever  at  one  side,  and  a  mallet  to 
work  by  a  treadle — the  mallet  always  to 
strike  the  center  of  the  table,  and  squared  off 
the  plain  over  which  the  block  would  have 


I  1 6  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

to  describe.  The  treadle  is  of  course  worked 
by  foot,  and  with  side  woods,  the  width  of 
two  words,  and  woods  the  width  of  a  double 
line,  which  exactly  correspond  in  size  with 
the  latter  ;  for  the  guide  in  shifting  the  block 
upward  in  the  plain  of  the  fixed  mallet,  as  the 
other,  the  side  woods  keep  the  position  side- 
ways ;  the  stereotyper  moves  these  as  he 
finishes  two  words  at  a  time,  the  top  piece,  at 
the  finishing  of  the  double  line,  is  taken  from 
the  top,  and  pushing  up  the  block,  he  puts 
that  wood  at  the  next  foot,  and  then  the 
block  is  in  proper  position  for  striking  the 
next,  and  is  firm  and  fast  in  its  position. 

Thus  the  right  hand,  which  would  other- 
wise have  had  to  hold  the  mallet,  is  left  free 
to  handle  the  manuscript,  and  to  relieve  the 
tip  of  the  little  finger  and  take  to  guiding. 
Now,  with  us  the  process  is  so  simplified  that 
the  operator  can  pell-mell  with  great  speed 
and  pleasure. 

The  advantage  will  appear  best  in  the  re- 
sult, when  I  tell  you  that  the  boy  can  do  with 
ease  in  one  day  what  would  take  three  men 
and  one-third  in  England  to  do  in  the  same 
time.  So  what  a  sighted  man  would  take 
twelve  months  to  do,  my  blind  boy  will  do  in 
three  months,  and  the  quality  of  the  work  is 
struck  more  perfectly. 


No.  VIII. 

THE    "WILD    MEN"    OF    BURMAH. 

|HEN  the  missionaries  first  landed  in 
Burmah  they  were  not  even  aware 
of  the  existence  of  the  Karens  or 
Karians  or  wild  men,  a  rude  race  inhabiting 
also  Siam  and  parts  of  China,  dwelling  in 
jungles  and  mountainous  districts,  and  num- 
bering from  35,000  to  40,000.  They  reckon 
themselves  by  families  ;  and,  though  a  family 
may  number  hundreds  of  souls,  it  has  but 
one  house.  Their  government  is  primitive 
and  patriarchal.  They  wear  but  little  cloth- 
ing, generally  a  long  sleeveless  shirt  of  coarse 
cotton.  It  is  now  sixty-three  years  ago  since 
these  obscure  people  were  discovered  by  the 
Baptist  missionaries.  They  were  found  to 
be  oppressed  and  virtually  enslaved  by  the 
Burmans. 

While    their    Burman    oppressors    turned 
proudly  away  from    the  cross,  and  clung  the 

closer  and   the   more  resolutely  to  the  follies 

117 


Il8  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

and  absurdities  of  their  atheistic  idolatry, 
these  humble  people  emerged  from  their  ob- 
scure hiding  places  and  not  only  heard  the 
simple  message  of  the  Gospel  with  a  strange 
gladness,  but  bore  the  tidings  from  village  to 
village  till  hundreds  had  been  baptised  and 
added  to  the  church  of  God.  Wherever  the 
missionaries  went  the  good  news  had  pre- 
ceded them,  and  in  even  the  most  remote,  re- 
tired, and  untraveled  quarters  they  found 
some  who,  like  Simeon,  were  waiting  for 
more  light  and  prepared  for  its  reception. 
Side  by  side  with  preaching  went  the  mission 
schools.  By  lessons  in  language  and  science, 
as  weli  as  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  these  devoted 
men  and  women  sought  to  lead  the  young 
from  the  vanities,  idolatries,  and  superstitions 
of  their  ancestors,  and  displace  the  doctrines 
of  Gautama  by  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  The 
printing-press  was  also  brought  into  requisi- 
tion. Within  ten  years  after  the  mission  was 
begun  fonts  of  type  were  prepared  in  each  of 
the  Karen  dialects,  and  thousands  of  copies 
of  books,  tracts,  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures 
were  published.  The  natives  speaking  the 
several  languages  soon  learned  to  print  them 
and   became   valuable   helpers   both  in  pro- 


THE  "  WILD  MEN       OF  BURMAH.  II9 

during   and   distributing   the   issues   of    the 
press. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  trace  at  least  the 
grand  outlines  of  this  wonderful  history  of 
modern  Gospel  triumphs.  When,  in  1828,  Mr. 
Boardman  removed  from  Maulmain  to  Tavoy 
there  lived  in  his  family  a  middle-aged  man 
who  had  been  a  slave  till  the  missionaries  them- 
selves purchased  his  freedom.  Already  a 
convert  to  Christianity,  soon  after  their  arri- 
val in  this  stronghold  of  Gautama,  with  its 
two  hundred  Buddhist  priests,  this  poor 
Karen  was  baptized.  His  name  was  Kho- 
Thah-byu  He  was  the  first  Karen  convert ; 
his  turning  to  Christ  was  the  turning  point 
in  the  history  of  the  degraded  race  to  which 
he  belonged,  and  the  work  begun  in  his 
transformation  was  the  auspicious  forerunner 
and  foretaste  of  a  success  which  has  in  all 
Christian  history  scarce  any  superior  or  even 
equal  as  a  demonstration  of  divine  power. 
These  wild  men,  upon  whom  even  the  Burmans 
looked  down  with  haughty  contempt  as  ser- 
vile inferiors,  weaker  in  body  and  mind  than 
their  oppressors,  the  victims  of  intemperance 
and  disgusting  vices,  were  cruelly  trodden 
underfoot  and  virtually  enslaved  by  the  Bur- 


120  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

mans,  who  forced  them  to  till  the  land,  pay 
exorbitant  taxes,  and  do  all  kinds  of  slave 
labor.  To  escape  their  persecutors  they  be- 
came half-nomads,  wandering  into  remote 
and  inaccessible  regions  that  they  might  not 
be  kidnapped  and  reduced  to  bondage. 
Though  they  had  some  crude  belief  in  deity, 
and  a  future  state  with  its  rewards,  they  had 
neither  a  definite  religious  faith  and  form  of 
religion  nor  priesthood.  Yet  these  were  the 
people  whose  unbounded  enthusiasm  in  re- 
ceiving the  Gospel  has  proven  that  none  are 
so  low  that  the  good  news  may  not  at  once 
reach  to  their  deep  degradation  and  accom- 
plish their  moral  uplifting  and  utter  trans- 
formation. Soon  after  Mr.  Boardman  settled 
at  Tavoy,  Kho-Thah-byu  brought  to  him 
several  Karens  of  the  city.  This  first  convert 
not  only  evinced  a  true  and  deep  interest  in 
Christ,  but  a  passion  for  other  souls  that 
proved  how  the  degraded  Pagan  may  not 
only  be  converted,  but  take  up  with  avdity 
and  constancy  the  work  of  winning  souls. 

At  one  of  the  Karen  villages,  twelve  years 
before,  a  traveling  Mussulman  had  left  a  mys- 
terious book,  which  he  told  the  Karens  was 
sacred  and    entitled   to   divine  honors.     The 


THE  "  WILD  MEN       OF  BURMAH.  121 

superstitious  party  who  had  charge  of  it 
knew  nothing  of  its  contents,  but  wrapped  it  in 
muslin  and  encased  it  in  basket-work  of  reeds 
covered  with  pitch,  like  the  Nile  cradle  of 
Moses.  The  mysterious  book  became  a  dei- 
fied object  and  religiously  venerated.  The 
keeper  himself  became  a  kind  of  high  priest 
and  sacristan  combined,  and  it  was  vaguely 
believed  that  a  treasure  had  been  sent  them 
from  above  which  some  future  messenger 
would  claim  and  explain.  When  Mr.  Board 
man  came  to  the  village,  he  was  visited  by  the 
guardian  of  the  holy  book  to  ask  concerning 
its  character.  He  could  give  no  opinion  till 
he  should  examine  the  book.  So  the  keeper 
of  it  returned  to  his  own  village  and  came 
back  after  several  days  bearing  the  revered 
book  and  followed  by  a  numerous  train  of 
interested  people,  all  eager  to  know  Mr. 
Boardman's  verdict  concerning  this  unknown 
volume.  The  wrappings  were  removed,  and 
an  old,  torn,  worn-out  copy  of  "  The  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  and  Psalms"  was  revealed. 
It  was  an  Oxford  edition  in  English.  Mr. 
Boardman,  like  Paul  at  Athens,  told  the 
people  they  were,  in  their  way,  very  religious, 
but  their  devotion  was  misplaced.     They  had 


122  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

been  ignorantly  worshiping  an  unknown  God, 
and  he  took  opportunity  now  to  declare  to 
them  the  message  of  the  true  God.  "  That 
book,"  said  he,  "  is  a  good  book,  and  teaches 
of  the  true  God  in  heaven."  The  docility  of 
the  people  was  amazing.  These  Karens 
seemed  to  feel  the  sin  of  having  given  to  a 
mere  book  the  homage  due  only  to  God,  and 
during  the  two  days  of  Mr.  Boardman's  stay 
received  with  deep  interest  his  instructions. 
The  aged  keeper  of  the  book  saw  that  his 
office  and  dignity  were  at  an  end  and  laid 
aside  his  sorcerer's  fantastical  dress  and 
wand  which  had  been  for  twelve  years  the 
sign  and  scepter  of  his  authority  and  influ- 
ence. 

In  1831,  Mr.  Boardman  yielded  to  solicita- 
tion and  began  to  visit  the  Karen  villages, 
accompanied  by  the  devoted  Kho-Thah-byu. 
First  of  all  they  went  to  the  village  of  Tshick- 
Koo,  the  repository  of  the  "  sacred  volume." 
The  journey  was  through  a  country  where 
the  very  hills  and  mountains  were  monu- 
ments of  idolatry — every  height  was  crowned 
with  a  pagoda. 

Three  days'  journey  brought  him  to  Tshick- 
Koo,  where  he  not  only  found  a  cordial  wel- 


THE  "  WILD  MEN  "  OF  BURMAH.  123 

come,  but  a  zayat  had  been  built  in  anticipa- 
tion of  his  coming,  and  it  was  large  enough 
to  accommodate  the  whole  population  of  the 
small  village.  There  at  once  he  preached, 
Kho-Thah-byu  being  his  interpreter  to  such 
as  were  ignorant  of  Burman.  Not  only  was  he 
heard  gladly,  but  some  stayed  all  night  at  the 
zayat  to  hear  him  and  the  next  day  crowded 
about  him  with  presents,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  second  day  five  'came  forward  to  receive 
baptism,  one  of  them  the  old  sorcerer  himself. 
Wherever  he  went  he  was  received  with  great 
hospitality  and  frequently  found  candidates 
for  baptism  who  had  first  heard  of  Christ 
from  the  lips  of  Kho-Thah-byu.  This  itine- 
rant experience  of  ten  days  determined  him 
to  form  a  grand  plan  of  comprehensive  mis- 
sionary operations,  embracing  preaching  tours 
among  the  villages  and  the  establishment  of 
Christian  schools. 

In  1829,  the  famous  Tavoy  rebellion  scat- 
tered the  little  band  of  Karen  disciples,  broke 
up  the  schools,  and  destroyed  the  mission 
premises  ;  but  when  Mr.  Boardman  returned, 
the  fugitives  came  back  from  the  jungles  and 
new  power  attended  the  preaching  of  the 
word.     There  were    those  verging  upon  old 


124  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

age  who  traveled  fifty  miles  by  hard  and  per- 
ilous paths  to  apply  for  baptism.  Kho-Thah- 
byu  went  often  over  the  mountains  to  bear 
the  Gospel  message,  and  from  these  distant 
homes,  some  of  them  on  the  borders  of  Siam, 
there  came  to  the  missionaries  Karen  in- 
quirers who  had  been  first  reached  by  these 
disciples,  who,  scattered  abroad,  went  preach- 
ing the  word.  On  one  occasion  Kho-Thah- 
byu  brought  back  forty  of  his  countrymen. 

Mr.  Boardman's  health  gave  way  and  he 
saw  that  his  end  was  near.  These  simple 
Karens  in  the  villages  roundabout,  fearing 
that  he  would  not  be  able  to  visit  them  as  he 
had  promised,  came  to  Tavoy  and  bore  him 
on  a  cot  upon  their  shoulders  to  the  zayat 
they  had  built  for  his  use  on  the  banks  of  a 
beautiful  stream,  where  the  sloping  moun- 
tain-sides were  lined  with  Karen  villages. 
There  he  found  about  fifty  candidates  for 
baptism.  With  the  aid  of  Rev.  Mr.  Mason 
and  native  disciples  the  dying  missionary  ex- 
amined the  candidates,  and  at  the  sunset 
hour  his  cot  was  placed  by  the  riverside  and 
the  first  Christian  baptism  ever  known  in 
that  district  was  celebrated  in  that  mountain 
stream  by  Mr.  Mason.    This  was  Mr.  Board- 


THE    "WILD     MEN"    OF    BURMAH.  1 25 

man's  "  closing  scene  " — fit  close  to  the  labors 
of  a  devoted  missionary.  They  attempted  to 
bear  him  back  to  Tavoy,  but  he  died  on  the 
way,  and  his  tomb  is  in  the  midst  of  what 
was  once  a  Buddhist  grove  and  beneath  the 
shadow  of  a  ruined  pagoda.  Its  simple 
marble  slab  bears  an  epitaph  which  reminds 
us  of  Christopher  Wren's  memorial  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  "  If  you  seek  his  monu- 
ment look  around  you." 

The  next  prominent  stage  in  this  wonder- 
ful work  among  the  Karens  was  the  gather- 
ing of  these  scattered  converts  from  the  vil- 
lages into  a  community  by  themselves,  in  or- 
der that  they  might  be  provided  with  schools 
and  other  means  of  religious  culture  and 
growth,  quite  impracticable  in  their  scattered 
condition.  This  docile  people  accepted  Mr. 
Mason's  proposal,  and  about  the  year  1833 
actually  abandoned  their  homes,  and  a  site 
was  chosen  for  a  new  Christian  town.  It  was 
the  site  of  a  former  settlement  known  as  "  the 
ancient  city,"  but  only  tradition  of  its  former 
condition  survived.  The  new  settlement  was 
called  Matah,  city  of  love,  almost  the  Karen 
equivalent  for  Philadelphia.  Fifteen  years 
wrought    there   marvelous    transformations ; 


126  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

there  might  be  found,  forty  years  ago,  a 
nourishing  church,  Christian  schools,  and  a 
happy,  harmonious  people,  their  nomadic 
habits  having  given  way  to  a  settled  life  of 
trade,  industry,  and  agriculture.  Heathen 
vices  had  already  been  displaced  by  neatness, 
cleanliness,  decency,  and  order.  They  began 
to  support  not  only  their  own  families  but 
their  own  schools  and  the  institutions  of  the 
Gospel.  The  history  of  the  wonderful 
changes  wrought  by  the  Gospel  among  the 
wild  men  of  Burmah  we  cannot  trace  fur- 
ther. Both  in  manners  and  morals,  in  man- 
hood and  household  life,  the  Karen  became 
unrecognizable  after  the  Gospel  had  touched 
his  mind  and  heart. 

When  Mr.  Mason,  in  1832,  visited  the  fields 
of  the  beloved  Boardman's  labor,  he  came  to 
the  villages  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Moung 
So,  the  chief,  who  early  sought  the  mission- 
aries at  Tavoy,  and  he  beheld  with  astonish- 
ment the  changes  already  wrought.  Hear  his 
own  words :  "  I  no  longer  date  from  a 
heathen  land.  Heathenism  has  fled  these 
banks.  I  eat  the  rice  and  potatoes  and  fruit 
cultivated  by  Christian  hands,  look  on  the 
fields  of  Christians,  and  see  no  dwellings  but 


THE    "  WILD     MEN        OF     BURMAH.  1 27 

those  of  Christian  families.  I  am  seated  in 
the  midst  of  a  Christian  village,  surrounded 
by  a  people  that  love,  talk,  act,  and  in  my 
eyes  look  like  Christians!  And  this  was  nearly 
sixty  years  ago. 

At  Dong-Yahn  the  lamented  Eleanor  Ma- 
comber,  in  December,  1836,  found  the  poor 
Karens  slaves  of  drunkenness  and  all  the 
most  loathsome  vices  of  heathenism.  With 
the  aid  only  of  two  or  three  natives  she  main- 
tained at  her  own  dwelling  daily  prayer  and 
Sabbath  worship  and  opened  a  small  school. 
Before  the  close  of  the  first  season  twelve 
Karens,  rescued  out  of  their  low  and  degraded 
Paganism,  were  baptized  and  formed  into  a 
church  of  Christ.  By  September  of  1837  na- 
tive preachers  were  in  charge  of  the  church 
and  schools,  and  Dong-Yahn  was  the  seat  of  a 
flourishing  Christian  community,  from  which 
over  a  wide  district  crowded  with  Karens  the 
light  and  life  of  the  Gospel  were  extending. 
Her  influence  on  the  women  and  girls  was 
such  that  scarce  a  home  in  the  numerous  vil- 
lages of  the  jungle  had  not  felt  the  power  or 
her  Christian  womanhood  to  uplift  and  trans- 
form female  character  ;  and  when,  in  1840, 
after  less  than  four  years  of  labor,  she  was 


128  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

called  to  her  reward,  the  wilderness  had  al- 
ready begun  to  bloom  like  Eden  and  the 
desert  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  Persecu- 
tion broke  out,  and  the  poor  victims  fled  in 
every  direction,  but  they  held  fast  their  faith, 
and  like  primitive  disciples  preached  it  when 
scattered  abroad. 

Among  the  most  fascinating  stories  of  mis- 
sions is  this  triumph  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
the  wilderness  of  Burmah.  It  was  propaga- 
ted by  Karens,  who  themselves  had  only  just 
heard  it  and  had  scarcely  learned  to  read  the 
Gospels — men  "  persecuted  and  despised  by 
cruel  priests  and  superstitious  despots  " — yet 
that  Gospel  took  possession  of  hundreds  of 
Karen  hearts  and  homes  and  lifted  a  whole 
people  to  a  new  plane  of  domestic  and  social 
life,  and  started  them  on  a  new  career  !  What 
hath  God  wrought  ? 

But  the  work  thus  begun  has  grown  with 
a  rapidity  seldom  paralleled.  In  1878,  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  conversion  of  Kho  • 
Thah-byu  was  kept  by  jubilee  gatherings  and 
the  consecration  of  the  Memorial  Hall  that 
bears  his  name.  The  Karens  themselves  built 
it  for  school  and  other  mission  purposes  at  a 
cost  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.     It  represen- 


THE    "WILD     MEN        OF     BURMAH.  129 

ted  twenty  thousand  then  living  disciples, 
converted  from  demon  worship,  maintaining 
their  own  churches  and  schools,  besides 
twenty  thousand  more  who,  in  the  faith  of 
Jesus,  have  died  and  gone  to  be  with  Him  in 
glory. 

At  the  dedication  of  this  Hall  four  veteran 
native  Karen  pastors  and  hundreds  of  others 
were  present.  The  hall  measured  134  feet  on 
its  south  front,  131  on  the  east,  and  104  on 
the  west.  It  has  a  splendid  audience-room 
66  by  38  feet,  and  has  a  fine  gallery.  Along 
the  east  side  is  carved  in  Karen,  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God,"  etc.,  and  on  the  west  side, 
"  These  words  .  .  .  thou  shalt  teach  dili- 
gently unto  thy  children."  What  a  work  may 
this  hall  see  done  in  fifty  years  to  come  ! 

He  who  would  realize  what  the  Gospel  has 
done  for  the  Karen  slaves  must  go  and  stand 
on  that  "  Gospel  Hill  "  and  see  Kho-Thah-byu 
Memorial  Hall  confronting  Shway-Mote-Tau 
Pagoda  on  an  opposing  hill,  with  its  shrines 
and  fanes.  Here  is  the  double  monument  of 
what  the  Karens  were  and  are.  Burmah  has 
not  only  taken  her  stand  among  the  givers, 
but  in  1880  ranked  third  in  the  list  of  donors 
to  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  only  Massa- 


130  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

chusetts  and  New  York  outranking  her  ! 
Burmah  gave  $31,616.14  !  and  of  this  amount 
the  Karen  churches  gave  over  $30,000  !  Fifty 
years  ago  in  idolatry,  now  an  evangelizing 
power !  And  not  content  with  this,  they  set 
about  raising  another  $25,000  to  endow  a 
Normal  and  Industrial  Institute!  Their  liber- 
ality puts  to  shame  the  so-called  benevolence 
of  our  Christians  at  home.  We  give  out  of 
our  abundance  ;  "  the  abundance  of  their  joy 
and  their  deep  poverty  abound  unto  the 
riches  of  their  liberality." 

In  the  Government  Administration  Report 
for  British  Burmah  for  1880-81  there  is  a  glow- 
ing tribute  to  the  American  Baptist  mission- 
aries, followed  by  the  statement  that  there 
were  then  attached  to  their  communion  "451 
Christian  Karen  parishes,  most  of  which  sup- 
port their  own  church,  parish  school,  and  na- 
tive pastor,  and  many  of  which  subscribe  con- 
siderable sums  for  missionary  work."  The 
report  adds:  "  Christianity  continues  to  spread 
among  the  Karens,  to  the  great  advantage  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  the  Christian  Karen 
communities  are  distinctly  more  industrious, 
better  educated,  and  more  law-abiding  than 
the  Burman  and  Karen  villages  around  them. 


THE    "  WILD     MEN         OF     BUKMA-1I.  13I 

The  Karen  race  and  the  British  Government 
owe  a  great  debt  to  the  American  missionaries, 
who  have,  under  Providence,  wrought  this 
change  among  the  Karens  of  Burmah." 

In  connection  with  these  Gospel  triumphs 
the  name  of  that  first  Karen  convert  can  never 
be  forgotten.  First  in  the  Burmese  Empire 
to  embrace  Christianity,  afterwTard  pastor  of 
Maubee,  for  many  years  he  preached  the  Gos- 
pel to  his  despised  and  oppressed  country- 
men. The  servant  of  Christ,  the  apostle  of 
the  Karens,  whose  conversion  was  the  pivotal 
point  in  the  history  of  a  whole  people,  was  a 
poor  degraded  Karen  slave  ! 

Sau  Quala  was  one  of  the  first  converts 
among  the  degraded  Karens.  From  the  low- 
est state  the  Gospel  raised  him,  with  a  rapid- 
ity that  no  civilization  ever  knew,  to  a  noble 
Christian  manhood.  His  first  impulse  was  to 
tell  others  of  Jesus.  He  helped  to  translate 
the  Bible  into  the  Karen  tongue,  for  fifteen 
years  guided  the  missionaries  through  the 
jungles,  and  then  himself  began  to  preach 
and  to  plant  new  churches.  In  one  year  he 
had  formed  nine,  with  741  converts  ;  in  less 
than  three  years  the  nine  had  grown  to  thirty, 
with  2,000  converts.   He  did  his  work  without 


132  THE   MIRACLES    OF   MISSIONS. 

salary,  and  when  the  English  Government 
offered  him  a  position,  with  large  compensa- 
tion, he  at  once  declined,  though  his  poverty 
was  such  as  prevented  him  from  taking  his 
lovely  wife  with  him  in  his  missionary  tours  ! 
This  one  man,  whom  no  bait  of  money  or 
position  or  personal  ease  could  win  to  leave 
his  holy  and  unselfish  work,  is  an  unanswer- 
able proof  that  a  power  higher  than  man 
works  in  Christianity.  And  yet  there  are 
those  who  "  do  not  believe  in  missions  ! " 


No.  IX. 

THE  CONVERTS  AND  MARTYRS  OF  UGANDA. 


|N  1875,  Henry  M.  Stanley  startled  the 
Christian  world  by  proclaiming 
King    Mtesa's  desire    to    have  mis- 


sionary teachers  come  to  his  land,  and  chal- 
lenged Christendom  to  respond  and  send 
them  to  Uganda. 

Under  the  liberal  policy  of  Mtesa,  Chris- 
tianity, once  planted  in  that  dark  country, 
made  wonderful  strides.  Finding  an  open 
deor,  the  missionaries  preached  and  taught, 
set  up  printing-presses,  and  widely  scattered 
the  leaves  of  the  Tree  of  Life.  The  people 
began  to  learn  to  read  the  New  Testament  in 
Luganda.  The  storehouses  and  offices  of 
court  became  reading-rooms  ;  lads  were 
found  in  groups  engaged  in  reading  religious 
books,  such  as  the  Kiswahili  New  Testament. 
The  people  were  so  glad  to  read  ;  they  were 
ready  also  to  buy. 

«33 


134  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

On  March  18,  1882,  the  first  five  converts 
received  baptism,  and  at  the  end  of  1884, 
there  were  88  members  in  the  native  church, 
among  them  Mtesa's  own  daughter,  "  Re- 
becca" Mugali.  Though  the  king  had  antici- 
pated no  such  result  and  was  not  ready  for 
it,  his  unusual  breadth  of  mind  and  largeness 
of  heart  led  him,  after  the  first  revulsion  of 
feeling,  to  continue  his  policy  of  toleration. 
And  so  the  Church  passed  this  Scylla  of  her 
peril.  But  October  10,  1884,  Mtesa  died,  and 
his  son  Mwanga  came  to  the  throne.  He  was 
a  very  different  man  from  his  father,  who  was 
an  exception  to  African  chieftains.  Mwanga 
was  greatly  puffed  up  by  his  accession  to  the 
throne.  Full  of  conceit,  vain  and  vicious, 
proud  and  passionate,  vacillating  and  vindic- 
tive, his  own  folly  and  fearfulness  made  him 
especially  open  to  the  misrepresentations  and 
persuasions  of  designing  and  treacherous 
men.  The  chiefs  were  alarmed  to  see  Chris- 
tianity making  progress  so  rapidly;  it  was 
creating  a  new  atmosphere;  it  was  dispelling 
ignorance,  and  with  it  superstition;  and  so 
their  power,  which  depended  on  superstition, 
was  waning.  So  they  wrought  on  Mwanga's 
foeble  mind  and  suspicious  spirit,  and  an  era 


CONVERTS  AND  MARTYRS  OF  UGANDA.        135 

j)f  trouble  began.  There  was  a  cloud  on  the 
horizon,  and  it  overspread  the  sky  very  fast. 

Those  who  think  the  blessed  Gospel  a 
human  invention  or  unattended  by  super- 
natural power  we  ask  to  consider  how  it  came 
to  pass  that  such  remarkable  results  were  so 
rapidly  and  so  radically  wrought  among 
Pagans.  Witness  the  power  already  exercised 
over  a  rude  and  barbarous  people.  For  cen- 
turies the  interregnum  following  a  king's 
decease,  and  until  a  new  monarch  ascended 
the  throne,  had  been  a  period  of  anarchy. 
Invariably  there  was  no  law  in  the  kingdom 
when  there  was  no  king.  Every  man  did 
what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes.  To  rob,  to 
assault,  to  kill,  were  common;  and  the  mission 
authorities,  warned  by  their  converts,  braced 
themselves  to  bear  the  brunt  of  persecuting 
violence.  They  conferred  and  prayed,  and 
determined  quietly  to  wait,  making  no  resist- 
ance to  officially  authorized  wrongs. 

Somehow  there  was  no  "  carnival  of  blood  " 
or  crime.  Custom  sanctioned  the  murder  of 
the  king's  brothers  as  rival  claimants  to  the 
throne,  but,  for  the  first  time  in  Uganda's  his- 
tory, there  was  no  such  slaughter. 

But  troublous  days  were  before  the  mission. 


136  THE    MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

The  African  monarch  was  suspicious  of  the 
approach  of  white  men,  especially  from  the 
northeast;  fearful  of  conspiracies  against  his 
government;  had  absurdly  exaggerated  no- 
tions of  the  power  of  the  white  men;  and  so 
Mr.  Thomson  himself,  in  coming  through 
Usoga,  might  have  fallen  a  victim  as  Han- 
nington  did,  had  he  not  got  to  Uganda  about 
the  time  Mtesa  died  and  before  matters  had 
assumed  their  threatening  aspect. 

Mwanga  was  made  to  suspect  Mr.  Mackay  of 
treachery;  he  found  that,  with  the  exception 
of  two  or  three,  all  his  own  pages  were  pupils 
of  the  missionaries  and  counted  Jesus  as  their 
king,  and  the  monarch  of  the  realm  as  only  a 
man  after  all.  Mr.  Mackay  was  arrested  by 
order  of  the  Katikiro,  at  the  instigation  of 
Mujasi,  who  hated  all  whites,  and  especially 
their  religion,  and  who  was  glad  to  drag 
Christians  and  Christian  teachers  before  the 
magistrate.  In  fact,  the  mission  barely 
escaped  destruction. 

The  boys  who  were  Mr.  Mackay's  compan- 
ions did  not  escape.  They  were  accused  of 
joining  the  white  men  in  a  traitorous  league 
against  the  king.  Efforts  to  save  them  proved 
vaint  and  three  of    them   were  subjected   to 


CONVERTS  AND  MARTYRS  OF  UGANDA.   137 

fearful  tortures  and  then  put  to  death.  Their 
arms  were  cut  off;  they  were  bound  alive  to 
a  scaffolding;  a  fire  was  kindled  beneath; 
and  they  were  slowly  roasted  to  death  !  Mark 
the  miracle  wrought  by  this  Gospel  in  these 
hearts,  so  lately  turned  from  dumb  idols  or 
senseless  fetiches  to  serve  the  living  God  ! 
Mujasi,  the  captain  of  the  body  guard,  with 
his  men,  stood  mocking  their  long  and  hor- 
rible agonies,  as  their  Saviour  was  mocked 
before  them.  They  were  bidden  to  pray  to 
Isa  Masiya — Jesus  Christ — and  see  if  He 
would  come  down  and  deliver  them.  But  in 
these  lowly  lads,  with  their  dark  skins,  there 
was  a  heart  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  and  the  spirit  of  the  martyrs  burned 
within,  while  the  fires  of  the  martyrs  burned 
without;  and  so  they  praised  Jesus  in  the 
flames,  and  sang  songs  to  Him,  until  their 
tongues,  dried  and  shriveled  in  the  heat, 
could  no  longer  articulate: 

"Killa  siku   tunsifu." 

"  Daily,  daily  sing  to  Jesus  ; 

Sing,  my  soul,  His  praises  due  ; 
All  He  does  deserves  our  praises, 
And  our  deep  devotion,  too. 


138  THE    MJRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

For  in  deep  humiliation 
He  for  us  did  live  below  ; 

Died  on  Calvary's  cross  of  torture, 
Rose  to  save  our  souls  from  woe." 


The  hearts  of  Mr.  Mackay  and  his  fellow- 
workers  were  "  breaking"  with  anguish;  but 
they  could  not  but  rejoice  at  such  triumphs 
of  grace.  And  one  of  the  executioners,  struck 
by  the  wonderful  fortitude  of  these  three  lads, 
their  faith  in  God  and  their  hope  of  a  life  be- 
yond, and  their  evident  hold  on  an  unseen 
Power  to  which  he  was  a  stranger,  came  and 
besought  that  he  might  be  taught  to  pray  as 
they  had  done. 

These  martyr  fires  and  martyr  deaths  did 
not  fill  other  converts  with  dismay.  Mwanga 
threatened  any  who  dared  to  adopt  the  faith 
of  the  white  men,  or  even  to  frequent  the  mis- 
sion premises,  with  death  in  the  fires;  but  the 
converts  continued  to  come  to  Jesus  neverthe- 
less. The  Katikiro  found  that  the  commun- 
ity was  so  pervaded  by  this  new  religion  that, 
if  the  king  continued  to  prosecute,  he  might 
have  to  accuse  chiefs,  and  overturn  the  whole 
social  fabric  !  In  fact,  Mujasi  began  to  meet 
rebuffs  when  he  undertook   to  ferret  out  dis- 


CONVERTS  AND  MARTYRS  OF  UGANDA    I  39 

ciples  and  bring  them  to  punishment;  and 
Nua,  a  man  who  boldly  went  to  court  and 
confessed  that  he  was  a  Christian,  was  sent 
home  in  peace. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Mackay  and  his  fellow- 
laborers  were  in  daily  peril  of  their  lives,  and 
persecution  broke  out  afresh;  but  the  con- 
verts held  fast  the  beginning  of  their  confi- 
dence steadfast  unto  the  end,  and  though 
thirty-two  were  burned  alive  in  one  awful 
holocaust,  upon  one  funeral  pyre,  conversions 
did  not  stop,  nor  could  the  heroic  disciples 
be  kept  from  open  confession  of  Christ,  in 
face  of  the  smoking  embers  of  those  martyr 
fires, 


No.  X. 

THE    HOME    OF    THE    INQUISITION. 


HE  arms  of  the  Escurial  bear  the 
motto  :  Post  Fata  Resurgo,  with  the 
sun  emerging  from  behind  clouds. 
That  motto  is  prophetic.  Nothing  more  won- 
derful has  saluted  the  eyes  of  God's  watchers 
who  wait  for  the  morning  than  the  recent 
work  of  the  Gospel  in  this  Land  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, where  the  ashes  of  30,000  martyrs  may 
be  found,  who  were  burned  alive  for  their 
faith's  sake.  Three  hundred  years  of  ecclesi- 
astical despotism,  upheld  by  the  awful  appli- 
ances of  torture,  had  desolated  the  Spanish 
church.  But  for  twenty  years  past,  this  coun- 
try has  been  the  arena  of  very  remarkable 
triumphs.  Already,  when  Pastor  Fliedner,  of 
Madrid,  addressed  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
in  Copenhagen,  in  1884,  there  were  more  than 
12,000  evangelical  disciples,  representing 
nearly  100  congregations,  courageously  hold- 
ing their  ground  against  Papal  opposition,  in 
140 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  141 

various  parts  of  Spain  ;  and  over  8,000  chil- 
dren were  in  Christian  schools,  with  high 
schools  at  Madrid,  St.  Sebastian,  and  Puerto 
Santa  Maria ;  and  Sunday-schools  every- 
where, and  evangelical  hospitals  at  Madrid 
and  Barcelona. 

In  1883,  the  Luther-festival  was  observed 
even  in  the  cradle-land  of  Inquisitorial  cruel- 
ty, and  the  first  evangelical  students  were 
matriculated  in  the  university  at  the  capital. 
Previous  to  1868,  not  even  a  New  Testament 
would  have  been  tolerated  in  Spain  ;  and  now 
the  publications  of  the  Bible  and  tract  socie- 
ties are  spreading  so  fast  that  it  is  difficult  for 
the  supply  to  keep  up  with  the  demand. 

Those  who  apologize  for  Romanism,  and 
question  whether  it  be  even  worth  while  to 
send  missionaries  to  Papal  lands,  should  visit 
such  countries  as  Mexico  and  Spain.  As  in 
Brazil  and  Italy  it  is  St.  Joseph  that  is  practi- 
cally worshiped,  so  in  Spain  it  is  the  Virgin  ; 
in  fact,  the  great  day  of  the  Passion  Season 
is  not  the  Good  Friday  of  the  Lord's  death, 
but  the  Friday  previous,  sacred  to  the  Virgin 
of  Sorrows.  Her  breast  is  pierced  with  seven 
swords,  and  beneath  are  the  words  :  Is  there 
a  sorrow  like   to   my  sorrow?  and  above,  "/ 


142  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

am   the  Mediatrix   of  the  human  race  /"     The 
children's  bedtime  prayer  is  : 

"  Con  Dios  me  acuesto, 
Con  Dios  me  levanto  ; 
Con  la  Virgen  Maria 
Y  el  Espirito  Santo." 

"  With  God  I  go  to  sleep, 
With  God  I  wake  ; 
Even  with  the  Virgin  Mary 
And  the  Holy  Spirit." 

In  connection  with  this  displacement  of  the 
Mediator  by  His  human  mother,  there  is  a 
practical  idolatry  that  is  scarcely  surpassed 
by  the  lowest  Pagans.  In  the  sanctuary  of 
Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe  is  a  black  wooden 
image  dressed  gorgeously,  and  having  a  spe- 
cial costume  for  each  new  festival,  which  even 
royal  princesses  deem  it  an  honor  to  make. 
To  the  doors  of  the  Spanish  chapel  at  Madrid 
a  leaflet  was  affixed,  representing  Mary,  Queen 
of  Angels,  supported  on  each  hand  by  a  pray- 
ing angel  ;  beneath  it  is  a  foot-measure  with 
the  inscription  :  "  This  is  the  true  measure  of 
the  sole  of  the  foot  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin, 
kept  with  great  veneration  in  a  convent  of 
Spain.     Pope  John  XXIII.  has  accorded  300 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  I43 

years'  indulgence  to  all  who  will  kiss  this 
measure  and  say  three  Ave  Marias.  Clement 
VIII.  confirmed  these  indulgences  in  1603, 
and  they  are  obtainable  as  often  as  desired 
for  the  souls  of  the  blest  in  Purgatory  and  for 
the  greater  honor  of  the  Queen  of  Angels.  It 
is  permissible  to  take  from  this  measure 
others,  and  hereby  obtain  the  same  indul- 
gences. Mary,  Mother  of  Graces,  pray  for  us. 
This  is  sold  in  the  chapel  of  our  dear  Lady  of 
Solitude,  in  Her  chapel  in  the  street  of  Doves, 
and  to  her  honor.     Madrid,  1883." 

The  great  means  by  which  God  is  illumin- 
ing this  death-shade  of  idolatry  and  supersti- 
tion is  His  Holy  Word.  But  the  Bible  has  not 
found  its  way  into  Spain  without  resistance. 
A  colporteur  sold  in  the  market  place  of  Mon- 
talborejo  a  large  copy  of  the  Word  of  God.  A 
priest,  leaving  the  adjoining  church,  snatched 
it  from  the  buyer  and  flung  it  to  the  ground, 
exclaiming,  "  The  books  of  these  heretics  shall 
not  come  into  our  village."  He  led  on  an 
assault,  in  which  the  colporteur,  pelted  with 
stones,  was  glad  to  escape  with  life.  Five 
weeks  afterward,  he  passed  that  same  hamlet 
at  evening,  when  he  thought  he  would  not  be 
recognized.     But  the  first  man  who  met  him 


144  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

asked  if  he  were  not  the  Bible-man.  Truth 
compelled  him  to  say  "  I  am,"  though  not 
without  fear.  What  was  his  surprise,  how- 
ever, to  find  that,  instead  of  stoning  him,  the 
people  were  all  now  clamoring  for  his  books  ! 
And  mark  how  God  has  brought  about  this 
wondrous  change.  A  grocer,  picking  up  the 
Bible  which  the  priest  had  thrown  to  the 
ground,  had  torn  out  the  leaves  and  used  them 
as  wrapping-paper  for  his  soap  and  candles 
and  cheese.  The  Spaniards  unwrapped  their 
wares,  and  were  attracted  to  read  the  words 
printed  in  large  type  upon  them  ;  and  so  the 
precious  truths  taught  in  narrative  and  para- 
ble found  their  way  into  their  hearts,  and  they 
went  to  the  shopkeeper  to  get  more,  and  when 
the  stock  was  exhausted  prayed  God  to  send 
back  the  colporteur  with  his  Bibles.  His  re- 
appearance was  the  signal  for  the  immediate 
sale  of  all  his  books  ;  and  then  they  begged 
him  to  stay  and  teach  them  the  truth  which 
the  Book  contained.  Pastor  Fliedner  well 
says,  it  reminds  us  of  the  words  on  Luther's 
monument  at  Worms  :  "  The  Gospel  which 
our  Lord  put  into  the  mouths  of  His  apostles, 
that  is  His  sword,  with  which  as  with  thunder 
and  lightning,  He  strikes  in  the  world."  With 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  145 

that  weapon  alone,  the  Almighty  has  been 
driving  before  Him  the  armies  of  the  aliens 
and  beating  down  the  strongholds  of  the 
Devil. 

Pastor  Fliedner,  on  his  way  to  prison,  where 
he  had  the  privilege  of  being  cast  for  Christ's 
sake,  looked  over  the  tracts  he  had  with  him 
and  rejoiced  to  find  them  suitable  to  distrib- 
ute among  prisoners.  But  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  them  outside  his  cell.  His  handcuffs 
were  so  loosely  holding  his  wrists  that  he 
managed  to  slip  his  hands  through  and 
passed  them  to  the  sergeant.  Thereupon  the 
jailer  put  a  fetter  around  his  ankle  and  pushed 
him  into  a  cell,  with  five  others,  but  kept  his 
books  for  his  boy,  for  the  sake  of  the  pictures. 
Pastor  Fliedner  cared  less  for  being  shut  in 
a  cell  than  for  having  his  tracts  shut  out. 
Suddenly  he  was  called  out  and  searched  by 
the  jailer,  who  coolly  appropriated  his  hand- 
kerchief, the  little  money  he  had  about  him, 
and  even  the  pocket-knife  which  was  his  little 
boy's  gift.  Indignant  at  such  robbery,  Pastor 
Fliedner  said,  "  What  do  they  here  call  people 
who  take  what  is  not  their  own  ?"  "  You  call 
me  a  thief,  do  you  ?"  said  the  brutal  jailer, 
and   violently   boxed  his  ear.     Then  fixing  a 


14 J  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

weight  of  350  pounds  to  his  fetter,  he  shoved 
him  back  into  the  dungeon,  and  flung  his 
tracts  after  him,  saying,  "  I  will  have  nothing 
that  belongs  to  you." 

The  prisoners  pounced  on  the  tracts.  "Ah, 
you  are  a  Protestant  !  You  believe  in  God. 
We  do  not,  and  have  longed  ceased  to." 
"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  do  believe  in  a  God." 
"  But  have  you  seen  him  ?  "  "  No  ;  but  when 
the  jailer  speaks  and  answers  you  through 
that  closed  door,  you  know  he  is  there, 
though  you  don't  see  him.  So  I  speak  to  God 
in  prayer,  and  when  He  answers  me  I  know 
He  is  there."  "Well,"  they  rejoined,  "how 
do  you  know  he  hears  and  answers  you?" 
Pastor  Fliedner  then  referred  to  the  scene 
they  had  just  witnessed,  the  rude  box  on  the 
ear ;  and,  calling  their  attention  to  his  own 
tall  and  stalwart  frame  and  the  ease  with 
which  he  could  have  dealt  a  blow  that  would 
have  felled  the  diminutive  jailer  to  the  earth, 
he  said,  "  I  had  a  mind  to  strike  him  back, 
and  double  him  up,  but  I  sent  up  to  God  a 
prayer  for  patience,  and  it  was  at  once 
granted  me,  and  now  I  shall  have  patience 
given  me  till  the  end."  This  was  a  practical 
example   of  the  power  of  prayer  that  those 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  147 

men,  wont  to  yield  to  passion,  could  well 
understand.  And  the  result  was  that  those 
prisoners  read  and  prayed  together  in  that 
dungeon,  and  when  Pastor  Fliedner,  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  awoke,  he  saw  one  of 
those  convicts  reading  by  the  dim  light  the 
parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  and  so  he 
"  thanked  God  for  that  box  on  the  ear." 

In  May,  1884,  three  young  disciples  were 
thrown  into  prison  for  not  worshiping  "  the 
host,"  as  it  was  borne  past.  But,  like  Paul 
and  Silas,  they  prayed  and  sang  praises  unto 
God,  even  in  jail,  and  a  by-passer  in  the 
street  sent  them  five  francs  for  their  sweet 
singing.  After  the  ten  days  of  their  sen- 
tence expired,  the  Judge  demanded  the  fine 
of  fifty  francs.  They  had  no  money,  and  he 
remanded  them  to  prison  for  another  ten  days. 
Two  days  later  he  set  them  free  ;  for  the 
priest  had  complained  that  his  parishioners  stood 
morning  and  evening  before  the  prison,  listening 
to  the  hymns  they  sang  ;  and  that  the  inter- 
est and  sympathy  they  were  exciting  would 
only  make  more  Protestants  !  And  so  they 
were  set  free. 

This  brief  narrative  of  facts  may  serve  to 
show  us  how  the  living  God  is  moving  with 


148  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

His  mission  band.  Even  in  the  land  of  the 
Holy  Office,  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  that 
seed  of  the  Church,  is  now  springing  up 
from  soil  black  with  the  ashes  of  the  "  here- 
tics." The  first  instance  in  which  the  blood 
of  a  heretic  was  shed  by  the  solemn  forms  of 
law  was  in  385,  when  Priscillian,  leader  of  the 
Gnostics  in  Spain,  was  put  to  the  sword  at  the 
instigation  of  Bishop  Itacius.  And  now, 
1,500  years  after,  the  pure,  sweet  Gospel  is 
flowing  like  the  river  of  the  water  of  life,  to 
turn  that  desert  of  the  Inquisition  into  the 
garden  of  the  Lord. 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  Spain  is  writ- 
ten in  blood.  The  Aragonese  branch  of  the 
Inquisition  can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  1232; 
At  first  its  severest  sentence  was  the  confisca- 
tion of  property  ;  toward  the  close  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  the  Cardinal-Archbishop  of 
Seville  gave  it  a  new  impulse,  and  it  assumed 
in  time  the  huge  proportions  of  a  monster, 
becoming  more  despotic  and  cruel  than  in  any 
other  European  State.  In  1478  a  Papal  bull 
authorized  the  establishment  of  the  Tribunal, 
and  the  consent  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
gave  it  the  sanction  of  Royalty.  The  first 
formal  court  was  established  at  Seville,  and 


THE  HOME  OF  THE  INQUISITION.  149 

on  Jan.  6,  1481,  the  first  auto  da  fe  was  held, 
six  persons  being  burned  alive.  In  1483  Tor- 
quemada  became  Grand  Inquisitor-General 
of  all  Spain,  and  the  organic  laws  of  the  new 
Tribunal  were  framed,  which  Inquisitor-Gene- 
ral Valdez,  in  1561,  brought  to  their  final 
form.  Appointed  jointly  by  King  and  Pope, 
the  Inquisitor-General  became  invested  with 
absolute  power.  Llorente  estimates  that 
under  Torquemada  8,800  were  burned  ;  under 
Seza,  1,664  I  under  Ximenes,  2,536.  From 
1483  to  1808 — when  Joseph  Bonaparte  abol- 
ished the  Inquisition — the  estimate  is  :  burned 
alive,  31,912  ;  burned  in  effigy,  17,659;  sub- 
jected to  various  pains,  penalties,  and  pen- 
ances, 291,450  ;  a  total  nu??iber  of  victims  reach- 
ing 323>362  ! 

Yet  here,  in  this  central  fortress  of  Inquisi- 
torial horrors  and  terrors,  the  word  of  God, 
the  Gospel  tract,  the  song  of  grace,  the  trans- 
formed life  of  saintly  men  and  women,  with- 
out one  carnal  weapon,  are  moving  with  the 
power  of  God,  to  turn  the  land  of  many  mar- 
tyrs into  the  land  of  many  churches  and 
schools  of  Christ.  Spain  may  yet  lead  Chris- 
tendom in  the  defense  of  the  Protestant  faith. 


No.  XI. 

THE    LAND    OF    QUEEN    ESTHER. 

HAT  Theodore  Parker  was  constrained 
to  say  of  Adoniram  Judson,  we  may 
with  equal  truth  say  of  Fidelia  Fiske: 
"  Had  the  whole  missionary  work  resulted  in 
nothing  more  than  the  building  up  of  such  a 
character  it  would  be  worth  all  it  has  cost," 
and  we  may  add,  that  had  the  whole  history 
of  missions  furnished  us  no  other  example  of 
the  supernatural  factor  in  missionary  work 
than  that  afforded  by  the  Holyoke  school  in 
Oroomiah,  we  could  not  doubt  that  the  Gos- 
pel accomplishes  miracles  still. 

There  is  no  question  of  Miss  Fiske's  pre- 
eminence as  a  woman.  Dr.  Anderson  thought 
her  the  nearest  approach  in  man  or  woman  to 
his  ideal  of  the  Saviour  ;  and  Dr.  Kirk  de- 
clared that  he  had  never  seen  any  one  who 
came  nearer  to  Jesus  in  self-sacrifice,  and  that 
if  the  Eleventh  Chapter  of  Hebrews  were  ex- 
tended her  name  would  be  added  to  the  list 
of  those  whose  faith  or  fortitude  made  them 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN  ESTHER.  151 

deserving  of  a  niche  in  that  Westminster  Ab- 
bey of  the  saints  and  martyrs.  Wherever  she 
went,  God's  presence  and  power  went  with 
her.  For  nearly  twelve  years  her  work  in  the 
land  of  Esther  was  one  of  continued  and  al- 
most continuous  revival  ;  and  when  from  the 
far  Orient  she  returned  to  the  seminary  at 
South  Hadley,  in  one  year,  out  of  344  girls, 
only  nineteen  left  it  unconverted. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  these  great  results 
were  accounted  for  by  the  natural  elements 
in  her  character.  It  is  true  that  to  singular 
executive  tact,  indomitable  energy  and  untir- 
ing industry,  she  united  peculiar  personal  mag- 
netism. But  there  was  a  divine,  a  supernatural 
dement  in  her  character  which  may  be  traced, 
like  Timothy's  faith,  back  through  mother 
and  grandmother.  That  loving  heart,  that 
winning  disposition,  that  genius  for  saving 
souls,  were  the  fruit  of  a  divine  husbandry 
and  the  harvest  of  many  parental  and  ances- 
tral prayers. 

More  than  three  hundred  years  before  she 
was  born,  the  holy  seed  was  sown  that  ripened 
in  Fidelia  Fiske.  Away  back  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries,  the  Fiskes  from  whom 
she  was  descended  were  "  eminent  for  zeal  in 


152  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

the  true  religion."  From  sire  to  son  and 
grandson  descended  in  a  golden  line,  link  by- 
link,  both  intelligence  and  integrity.  The 
wife  of  Ebenezer  Fiske  used  to  set  whole  days 
apart  for  prayer,  that  her  offspring  might  to 
the  latest  generation  prove  a  Godly  seed.  And 
in  1857  there  were  three  hundred  members  of 
Christian  churches  that  could  be  directly 
traced  to  this  one  praying  Hannah,  and  Fide- 
lia was  her  granddaughter  ! 

Fidelia  was  born  in  1816,  in  a  plain  farm- 
house in  which  the  Bible  was  the  principal 
library  and  educational  text-book.  Taught 
in  a  common  country  school  she  had  but  very 
limited  advantages,  but  she  exhibited  a  cha- 
racteristic thoroughness  and  self-reliance  in 
all  her  tasks.  She  did  with  her  might  what 
her  hands  found  to  do,  and  took  pleasure  in 
mastering  her  difficulties.  Naturally  wilful 
and  wayward,  her  mother's  firm  but  loving 
hand  taught  her  to  submit  her  will  to  author- 
ity, and  as  she  became  old  enough  to  appre- 
hend her  relations  to  God,  it  became  com- 
paratively easy  to  transfer  her  obedience  to 
His  higher  authority.  In  1831,  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  she  publicly  professed  her  faith.  She 
no  sooner  began  to  "follow"  Christ,  than  she 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN  ESTHER.  153 

became  a  "  fisher  for  men."  Eight  years  later 
she  came  under  the  influence  of  that  most 
remarkable  teacher  that  America  has  yet  pro- 
duced— Mary  Lyon — a  woman  who  combined 
in  herself  many  of  the  best  qualities  of  Abel- 
ard,  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  and  Pestalozzi.  There 
Fidelia  felt  the  sway  of  the  imperial  intellect 
and  seraphic  love  of  Mary  Lyon.  There  she 
learned  how  that  invisible  Power  which  we 
call  the  Holy  Spirit,  could  convince  of  sin 
and  teach  penitent  souls  to  pray,  believe,  and 
in  turn  become  teachers  of  others.  There  she 
learned,  what  she  never  forgot,  that  conver- 
sion is  a  phenomenon  which  can  be  accounted 
for  on  no  mere  philosophy  of  naturalism,  but 
is  plainly  the  work  of  God  !  During  this  time 
she  came  so  near  to  death  with  typhoid  fever 
that  she  looked  over  the  border-land  into  the 
awful  august  world  of  spirits,  and  henceforth 
the  reality  of  that  unseen  world  she  never 
doubted.  She  had  gotten  a  glimpse  of  those 
light-crowned  Alps  that  lie  beyond  the  clouds 
of  our  human  horizon. 

While  she  was  teaching  at  Holyoke,  that 
seminary  was  marvelously  pervaded  with  a 
missionary  spirit.  Fidelia's  uncle,  Rev.  Pliny 
Fiske,  had  gone  forth  to  the   sacred  city  of 


154  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

Jerusalem,  when  she  was  but  three  years  old, 
and  had  died  shortly  after,  and  the  impres- 
sions made  by  his  consecration  she  had  never 
lost.  When  Dr.  Perkins  came  to  Holyoke  to 
find  a  missionary  teacher  for  Persia,  Fidelia 
Fiske  was  ready,  and  she  told  Miss  Lyon  she 
would  go.  Those  two,  the  great  teacher  and 
her  scarcely  less  great  pupil,  drove  thirty 
miles  through  snow-drifts  to  the  mother's 
home,  and  at  n  o'clock  at  night  awoke  a 
sleeping  household  to  ask  whether  Fidelia 
might  obey  the  Lord's  call  to  Persia.  There 
was  little  more  slumber  that  Saturday  night, 
and  before  the  Sabbath  sun  set  the  devoted 
mother  bade  her  daughter  follow  the  Lord's 
voice  :  "  Go,  my  child,  go  !  "  said  she,  and 
that  precious  daughter  went.  Before  she 
arrived  at  Oroomiah  she  received  word  that 
sixty  young  ladies,  unconverted  when  she  left, 
had  but  six  who  still  remained  unbelieving. 
It  was  a  prophesy  and  a  foretaste  of  what 
was  before  her  as  the  head  and  teacher  of 
another  Holyoke  Seminary  in  Persia  ! 

The  people  among  whom  she  was  to  labor 
presented  no  hopeful  field.  The  Nestorians 
had  a  form  of  godliness  without  its  power. 
The   Koords  were  fierce   and  lawless.     The 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN  ESTHER.  155 

Mohammedans  were  bigoted   and  intolerant. 
The  habits  of   the  people  were   unspeakably 
repulsive  to  a  delicate  and  refined  nature  like 
Miss  Fiske's.     One  room  was  the  Nestorian 
house.     Cleanliness  and   decency  were  alike 
impossible.     The  vermin  were  so  thick   upon 
the  children  that  it  was  well  they  were  nearly 
nude,    since    the   vermin    had    fewer   hiding 
places.     Woman  in  Persia  was  unwelcome  at 
birth,  untaught  in  childhood,  uncherished  in 
wifehood  and  motherhood,  unprotected  in  old 
age,   and  unlamented  in    death— the  tool  of 
man's  tyranny,  the  victim  of  his  passions,  the 
slave  of  his  wants.     Lying,  stealing,  and  pro- 
fanity,   were    common    vices    among    them. 
They  were   coarse   and   degraded,  passionate 
and  quarrelsome,  and,  like  birds  in  a  cage, 
content  with  their  slavery.     They  laughed  at 
the  absurdity  of  a  woman's  being  educated. 

When  Miss  Fiske  went  to  Persia  no  revival 
of  religion  had  yet  been  enjoyed,  and  only  a 
beginning  has  been  made  in  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  and  the  printing-press.  Mrs. 
Grant,  of  blessed  memory,  had  in  1838  opened 
a  school  for  girls,  the  nucleus  of  the  now 
famous  female  seminary.  Thus  far  it  was 
only   a   day-school,  and    the   constant   daily 


156  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

return  of  the  pupils  to  their  tainted  home\ 
seemed  to  undo  all  the  good  done  at  the 
school.  Miss  Fiske  instinctively  felt  that  it 
must  be  changed  to  a  Harding-school. 

But  it  was  feared  no  parents  would  allow 
their  daughteis  to  enter  such  a  school  lest  it 
should  forfeit  some  opportunity  for  early 
marriage,  nor  could  they  see  what  good  edu- 
cation could  bring  to  a  girl,  while  it  would 
unfit  her  for  bearing  burdens  like  a  donkey. 
But  Fidelia  Fiske's  heart  was  set  on  redeem- 
ing Persian  women,  and  she  pressed  her  pro- 
ject. The  first  Syriac  words  she  learned  were 
"  daughter  "  and  "  give,"  and  she  persistently 
asked  parents  to  "  give  their  daughters."  On 
the  opening  day  two  scholars  entered,  and 
Within  six  months  the  number  grew  threefold. 
To  these  girls  she  had  to  become  at  once 
mother  and  servant,  housekeeper  and  teacher. 
She  washed  from  their  bodies  the  repulsive 
filth,  and  then  she  besought  God  to  sprinkle 
their  hearts  from  an  evil  conscience.  They 
were  such  liars  that  she  could  not  believe 
them  even  under  oath,  and  such  thieves  that 
she  could  leave  nothing  except  under  lock. 

But  those  degraded  girls  soon  found  that 
they  had  to  deal  with  a  woman  who  somehow 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN   ESTHER.  157 

knew  the  secrets  of  God.  They  dared  not 
steal  or  lie  before  a  woman  who  could  talk 
with  God  as  she  could,  and  to  whom  God 
spoke  back  as  He  did  to  her.  She  made  the 
Bible  her  main  text  book  and  behind  all  other 
teaching  laid  the  prayerful  purpose  to  lead 
them  to  Christ.  Often  she  was  constrained  to 
ask,  Can  the  image  of  Jesus  ever  be  reflected 
from  such  hearts  as  these  ?  But  she  knew  God 
to  be  almighty,  and  in  prayer  she  got  new 
courage  for  fresh  endeavor.  The  story  of  her 
persevering  efforts  to  reach  women  in  Persia 
is  too  long  to  be  told  within  our  narrow 
limits.  But  our  purpose  is  to  emphasize  not 
the  human  element  but  the  divine,  and  so  we 
pass  on  to  make  extended  reference  to  the 
great  revivals  in  Oroomiah. 

To  any  who  secretly  doubt  the  supernatural 
element  in  conversion  we  ask  careful  attention 
to  a  few  facts  : 

1.  This  woman's  great  work  can  all  be 
traced  first  of  all  to  her  closet.  She  first  heard 
from  God  in  the  ear  what  with  the  mouth  she 
afterward  proclaimed  as  from  the  house-tops. 
She  went  apart  with  God  and  prayed  for 
power,  prayed  for  sanctity,  prayed  for  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  be  given  in  that  school,  prayed 


158  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

for  each  of  those  girls  by  name.  And  she 
thus  prayed  until  this  unseen  Spirit  of  God 
breathed  on  those  young  hearts  and  swayed 
them  as  trees  bow  before  a  mighty  wind. 
She  solemnly  recorded  her  conviction,  after 
years  of  patient  work  among  Persian  women: 
"  If  they  are  ever  converted,  this  must  be  the 
Lord's  work  ;  I  feel  this  more  and  more." 

I  pass  by  much  interesting  history  that  the 
very  heart  of  the  whole  story  may  the  sooner 
be  reached.  In  the  autumn  of  1845,  after 
some  two  years'  labor,  a  new  and  strange 
spiritual  atmosphere  seemed  to  pervade  the 
school  ;  and  it  was  simultaneous  with  a  new 
secret  wrestling  with  God  in  her  own  closet. 
As  pupils  were  dismissed  from  the  school- 
room, two  lingered  and  were  found  to  be  in 
tears.  She  questioned  them  as  to  the  cause  of 
their  sorrow,  and  found  it  to  be  conscious  sin. 
"  May  we  have  to-day  to  care  for  our  own 
souls  ?  "  In  the  lack  of  a  private  room,  they 
went  to  the  wood  cellar  and  there  found  a 
place  for  retirement,  where  they  spent  that 
cold  day  seeking  God.  What  was  it  that  sent 
those  Persian  girls  there  ?  Was  it  the  personal 
magnetism  of  their  teacher  or  was  it  the  secret 
constraining  influence  of  God  ? 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN  ESTHER.  159 

2.  Again,  let  it  be  noted  that  simultaneously 
and  without  collusion  between  Miss  Fiske  and 
Mr.  Stoddard,  the  converting  work  began  in 
both  the  boys'  and  girls'  schools.  While 
Fidelia  Fiske  was  asking  God  for  wisdom  to 
guide  four  or  five  girls  that  she  had  discovered 
to  be  inquiring  for  salvation,  Mr.  Stoddard 
came  to  tell  her  of  four  or  five  boys  in  his 
school  much  distressed  on  account  of  sin.  It 
was  as  though,  without  the  knowledge  of 
either  party  as  to  the  other's  work,  the  same 
blessing  had  been  given  at  the  same  hour 
from  the  same  source  to  meet  the  same  need. 
The  two  schools  now  met  in  common  and 
were  taught  of  the  remedy  for  sin,  and  those 
young  children  bowed  in  the  presence  of  the 
august  realities  of  the  unseen  world.  The 
wave  of  revival  swept  over  those  schools,  sub- 
merging all  other  themes  of  thought  for  the 
time.  It  was  Sabbath  all  the  week.  The 
whole  house  was  a  sanctuary.  The  Nestorian 
women  thronged  the  house,  and  often  till 
midnight  Miss  Fiske  was  guiding  these  awak- 
ened souls,  and  then  heard  them  praying  from 
midnight  till  morning.  The  work  went  on 
until  but  two  pupils  over  ten  years  of  age 
remained  unmoved.     Nothing  more  remark- 


l6o  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

able  in  the  history  of  missions  has  been  seen 
than  those  children  voluntarily  seeking  places 
for  private  prayer,  and  there  remaining  for. 
prolonged  communion  with  God,  literally 
bathing  the  Bible  and  the  very  floor  of  their 
secret  closet  with  tears  !  The  villages  round 
about  were  blessed.  The  children's  prayers 
reached  their  distant  homes,  and  the  blessing 
fell  there  also.  Plowmen  and  common  work- 
men, with  plow  or  spade  in  hand  preached 
Christ.  And  not  only  so  :  those  young  girls 
who  had  found  salvation  were  found  pleading 
with  middle-aged  women  to  accept  Jesus  as 
Saviour. 

3.  Again,  the  power  of  God  was  seen  in 
utter  transformation  of  character  and  life. 
Fear  had  constrained  many  a  girl  not  to  steal 
lest  she  should  be  discovered  and  exposed  ; 
but  it  was  some  other  impulse  that  now  led 
to  the  confession  of  sins  long  ago  committed 
and  to  a  diligent  and  self-denying  effort  at 
long  delayed  reparation.  There  were  saints 
developed  from  those  Nestorian  children  that 
deserved  to  be  ranked  among  those  of  whom 
the  world  was  not  worthy,  whose  mature 
knowledge  and  piety  put  to  shame  the  attain- 
ments of  aged  Christians.     There  were  deaths 


THE  LAND  OF  QUEEN  ESTHER.  l6l 

that  compelled  those  Nestorians  to  look  upon 
death  as  never  before,  as  well  as  lives  that 
compelled  them  to  believe  in  a  new  power  of 
which  they  had  never  dreamed  !  The  very 
ground  became  holy  on  which  some  of  those 
young  feet  trod,  that  were  found  only  a  short 
time  before  hopelessly  bemired  in  the  filth  of 
Persian  homes.  Stolidity  and  stupidity  had 
given  way  before  a  quickening  influence  that 
was  like  an  electric  shock  for  suddenness, 
but  like  sunshine  for  power  to  illumine  and 
quicken.  Those  who  have  believed  conver- 
sion to  be  but  another  word  for  human  refor- 
mation should  have  been  in  Fidelia  Fiske's 
school  in  the  winter  of  1845  and  1846,  and 
seen  how  God  works  in  answer  to  prayer,  and 
makes  the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose  ! 


No.  XII. 

THE    WONDERFUL    STORY    OF    MADAGASCAR. 

O  Robert  Drury,  an  English  boy, 
wrecked  near  Port  Dauphine,  the 
Southeastern  cape  of  Madagascar, 
we  owe  the  first  full  account  of  the  savages 
on  this  great  island.  He  saw  the  captain 
and  crew,  who  with  him  escaped  from  the 
jaws  of  the  angry  sea,  pierced  with  the  lances 
of  the  inhospitable  natives,  till  out  of  over  a 
hundred  only  twelve  survived,  and  he  himself 
was  saved  only  to  be  enslaved. 

This  was  early  in  this  century.  The  coun- 
try was  then  divided  among  many  warring 
tribes;  might  the  only  right;  women  and 
children  carried  off  like  cattle  and  made 
slaves;  woman  so  degraded  that  even  the 
king's  daughter,  wife,  or  mother,  cringing 
before  him,  licked  his  feet.  Heathen  cere- 
monies, the  most  absurd  and  degrading,  were 
of  daily  occurrence.  A  wooden  charm  called 
an  owley,  borne  up  by  forked  sticks,  was  wor- 
shiped with  incense.  Fortune-tellers  or 
162 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        163 

umossees,  held  the  people  in  bondage,  and 
lived  upon  their  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
credulity;  the  Malagasy  were  the  victims  of 
magicians.  They  constantly  fought  and 
plundered  one  another.  The  arrival  of  a 
European  vessel  was  the  signal  for  abandon- 
ment to  lust,  and  reckless  trading  in  human 
bodies  and  souls;  all  who  had  slaves  drove 
them  to  the  seaside. 

Half  a  century  ago  the  Hovas  held  the  in- 
terior portion  of  the  island,  and  their  king  or 
chief,  Radama,  had  come  to  the  throne  in 
1808.  With  these  Hovas  and  their  sovereigns 
the  modern  history  of  Madagascar  is  mainly 
concerned.  Morally  and  spiritually  the  pic- 
ture is  very  dark.  From  three  to  four  thou- 
sand natives  were  sold  every  year,  and  the 
spot  where  they  caught  the  last  glimpse  of 
home,  and  first  saw  the  sea  that  was  to  bear 
them  into  hopeless  exile,  is  even  yet  called 
the  "weeping  place  of  the  Hovas.'"  Notwith- 
standing courts  of  law,  bribery  was  so  com- 
mon that  trial  was  a  form  and  a  farce. 
Honesty  was  scarce  known,  and  children 
were  trained  to  regard  falsehood  and  decep- 
tion as  virtues.  Punishments  were  savagely 
cruel,  devised  to  give  long,  lingering   pain — 


164  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

burning  by  slow  fires,  drowning  in  boiling 
water,  poisoning,  beating,  starving,  hurling 
over  precipices,  crucifying.  The  tangena  was 
a  substitute  for  trial,  and  thousands  died 
every  year  from  this  poison,  while  those  who 
proved  their  innocence  by  outliving  the  dose 
were  wrecked  in  health. 

The  people  were  a  nation  of  thieves  as  well 
as  liars.  Madame  Pfeiffer's  property  was 
stolen  while  at  the  house  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
but  recovery  was  impossible  where  even  high 
officers  stole.  The  very  graves  were  robbed, 
bodies  were  stripped,  and  every  article  of 
value  buried  with  the  dead  was  an  object  of 
ruthless  plunder.  The  nation,  thus  wedded 
to  lying  and  thieving,  objected  to  Christian- 
ity because  it  taught  truth  and  honesty.  The 
natives  were  so  far  lost  to  all  virtue  that  they 
resisted  any  influence  that  promised  moral  ' 
improvement.  As  to  homes,  Madagascar  had 
none;  a  native  never  spoke  of  family  or  fam- 
ily ties.  Madame  Pfeiffer's  travels  had 
brought  to  her  knowledge  no  people  so  im- 
moral, and  her  pen  refused  to  write  what  her 
eyes  and  ears  were  compelled  to  see  and  hear. 
The  worst  vices  were  so  universal  as  to  seem 
natural,      A   man   might  put  away  his  wife 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        165 

without  cause,  and  take  a  new  one  as  often 
as  his  caprice  or  passion  led  him.  Female 
virtue  was  of  so  little  account  that  it  did  not 
even  affect  the  legitimacy  of  offspring.  Chil- 
dren born  on  unlucky  days  it  was  no  crime 
to  strangle,  drown,  or  expose  to  the  tramp- 
ling feet  of  cattle. 

The  Hovas  were  like  the  Athenians,  a 
"  very  religious"  people — idols  filled  the  land. 
Gods  were  so  plenty  that  anything  new,  which 
the  natives  did  not  comprehend,  though  it 
were  but  a  machine  or  a  photograph,  they 
deified.  They  thought  of  their  idols  as  having 
all  power,  but  neither  knowledge  nor  good- 
ness, virtue  nor  love  ;  they  were  human  greed, 
cruelty,  meanness,  and  malice,  invested  with 
almightiness  !  monsters  of  lies  and  lusts. 

Of  this  people  the  French  governor  of  the 
Isle  of  Bourbon  said,  "  You  might  as  well 
attempt  to  convert  sheep,  oxen  or  asses,  as  to 
make  the  Malagasy,  Christians" — yet  among 
such  a  people  the  Gospel  has  won  some  of  its 
mightiest  triumphs. 

The  first  obvious  step  was  one  of  preparatio?i. 
God  gave  Madagascar  political  unity.  King 
Radama  in  his  reign  of  twenty  years,  proved 
himself  a  Caesar  or  Napoleon  to  his  realm, 


166  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

making  himself  master  of  nearly  the  whole 
island  ;  and  this  rendered  easier  the  spread 
of  a  new  faith,  as  the  unification  of  the  Roman 
Empire  had  done  eighteen  centuries  before. 
Radama  was  at  once  a  general,  a  ruler,  and  a 
reformer.  He  had  with  all  his  faults  and 
vices  a  patriotic  spirit.  Contact  with  European 
civilization  had  satisfied  him  of  its  superior 
type,  and  he  first  opened  the  door  to  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity  to  secure  the  progress 
and  prosperity  of  his  people.  He  made  a 
treaty  with  Britain,  abolishing  the  slave  trade, 
though  domestic  slavery  still  prevailed  in  his 
own  dominions  ;  and,  seeing  the  benefits 
accruing  to  even  heathen  lands  from  the 
Gospel,  he  welcomed  the  pioneer  English 
missionary  to  his  capital  Antananarivo,  in 
1820,  and  kept  his  pledge  of  royal  protection 
to  him  and  others  who  might  join  him. 

The  missionaries  reduced  the  Hova  lan- 
guage to  writing,  and  in  teaching  and  preach- 
ing employed  their  time  and  strength.  God 
gave  them  the  King's  patronage  ;  and  by  his 
favor  an  adult  school  was  opened  in  the  palace 
court-yard,  and  a  central  model  school  was 
organized  for  training  native  teachers  for  the 
villages   round    about  ;  and,   when  murmurs 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.    167 

arose  against  the  missionaries,  because  their 
teachings  lessened  respect  for  the  native 
religion,  Radama  had  the  independence  and 
indifference  to  go  on  with  the  work  of  educa- 
tion, caring  nothing  at  heart  for  the  idols 
that  the  Hovas  worshiped. 

In  1826  the  first  printing-press  was  set  up 
in  the  island,  and  a  new  literature  began  to 
be  created.  The  people  were  slowly  waking 
from  the  sleep  of  ages.  But  at  the  death  of 
Radama,  in  June,  1828,  not  one  convert  had 
yet  made  a  confession  of  Christ.1  This  pro- 
gressive sovereign  had  been  led  simply  by 
worldly  wisdom  ;  it  was  civilization  and  not 
Christianity,  as  such,  that  he  encouraged. 
He  was  too  intelligent  to  have  faith  in  priest- 
craft and  witchcraft,  but  too  carnally  minded 
to  embrace  Christianity  or  even  attend 
preaching  services. 

His  death  was  the  signal  for  a  most  bloody 
and  cruel  persecution.  One  of  Radama's 
wives,  Ranavalona,  forcibly  mounted  the 
throne,  murdering  all  rivals.  If  Radama  was 
the  Caesar,  she  was  the  "  Bloody  Mary,"  of 
Madagascar,  as  reckless  as  Nero,  as  treacher- 


"  Story  of  Madagascar,"  Mears,  p.  57. 


l68  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

ous  as  Judas,  and  as  selfish  as  Cleopatra. 
From  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  victims  fell 
annually  a  prey  to  her  cruelty.  Her  imperial 
journeys  were  destructive  raids  that  left  fam- 
ine in  their  track,  and  her  whole  rule  was 
that  of  a  despot  that  cared  neither  for  the 
liberty  nor  the  life  of  her  subjects.  Her  chief 
amusement  was  a  bull-fight.  She  would 
waste  .ears  over  the  death  of  a  favorite  bull 
and  lavish  honors  on  its  burial,  such  as  not 
even  the  decease  of  her  whole  family  would 
have  drawn  forth.  Had  her  reign  been  long, 
the  island  would  have  been  a  depopulated 
desert  ;  and,  as  it  was,  half  of  the  population 
are  said  to  have  perished  under  her  bloody 
sceptre. 

We  have  drawn  this  hideous  portrait  that 
it  may  be  seen  what  the  royal  flower  which 
Madagascar  society  naturally  produced,  and 
under  what  a  deadly  influence  the  infant 
church  of  Christ  there  struck  down  its  tender 
roots  and  unfolded  its  stalk.  Everything, 
humanly  speaking,  prevented  the  Gospel  from 
getting  any  hold.  The  soil  was  thick  with 
the  awful  growths  of  the  lowest  Paganism  ; 
and  a  queen  who  had  neither  justice  nor  mercy 
was  ready  to  pluck  up  the  first  plant  of  godU- 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        169 

ness,  or  burn  over  any  field  where  the  seed  of 
the  Gospel  had  sprung  up. 

Among  her  first  acts  was  the  prohibition  of 
all  preaching,   and   the    breaking    up  of   the 
schools.     Afterward,   probably    from    policy, 
she  permitted  the  missionaries  to  make  con- 
verts, and  to  organize  native  churches  ;  and, 
in   1831,  twenty  were  baptized,  among  them 
"  Paul,"  a   famous  heathen   diviner,  who  had 
become   a  humble    learner  in   the    school    of 
Christ.     As   soon,   however,  as   the   work   of 
conversion  thus  began   in   earnest,  the  queen 
set  herself  resolutely  against  it,  with  a  hatred 
and  cruelty  so  Satanic  that  a  pall   seemed  to 
have    fallen    upon    the    whole    people.      The 
preaching  went  forward,  and  she  was  besought 
not   to   persecute   the  new  disciples.     But  it 
was  all  in  vain.     In  March,  1834,  a  royal  proc- 
lamation was  made  in  the  ears  of  a   hundred 
thousand  people  drawn  up  on  the  plain,  Ima- 
hamasina,  declaring  war  against  the  new  faith. 
Converts  were  branded  as   criminals,  and  re- 
quired to  accuse  themselves  within   one  week 
on  pain  of  death.     Astonishing  as  is  the  fact, 
the  great  body  of  these  ?iative  disciples  stood  Jirm. 
Praying  for  help,  and  trusting  in   God,  they 
appeared    before    the   judges    and    confessed 


170  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

their  faith.  In  these  days  of  peril  these  Mala- 
gasy disciples  spent  whole  nights  in  prayer, 
and  their  fidelity  to  an  unseen  Saviour  excited 
the  astonishment  even  of  their  enemies.  The 
queen  contented  herself  in  this  case  with  de- 
grading four  hundred  officers  and  fining  two 
thousand  others.  A  week  later  she  demanded 
all  books  to  be  delivered  up.  As  all  literature 
on  the  island  was  the  creation  of  the  mission 
press,  this  edict  was  aimed  against  the  Bible. 
But  the  brave  Malagasy  would  not  give  up 
the  Scriptures,  which  some  of  them  had  walked 
a  hundred  miles  to  procure. 

The  strong  hold  of  the  Gospel  upon  the 
native  Hovas  could  be  accounted  for  on  no 
philosophy  that  excludes  the  power  of  God. 
Already  twenty-four  hundred  of  the  queen's 
officers  were  among  the  converts.  In  the  army 
the  best  and  bravest  soldiers  were  also  soldiers 
of  Christ  ;  in  vain  were  they  placed  in  the 
most  exposed  positions  in  the  battle — they 
still  routed  the  foe.  Thirty-thousand  Hovas 
could  read  the  Scriptures.  Many  cast  away 
idols  and  superstitious  charms.  Large  con- 
gregations met  at  the  capital  and  the  influ- 
ence reached  hundreds  of  miles  in  every 
direction.     No  fault  could   be  found  in   the 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        171 

Christians  of  Madagascar,  except  as  with 
Daniel  in  Babylon — they  believed  in  their  God. 
When  compelled  to  cease  from  public  labor, 
the  missionaries  worked  privately,  and,  besides 
teaching  the  people,  published  the  complete 
Old  Testament  and  "Pilgrim's  Progress." 
Then,  driven  from  the  island,  they  left  the 
young  church  of  Christ  without  a  foreign 
missionary  among  them,  in  July,  1836  ;  and 
for  twenty-five  long  years,  persecution,  which 
had  bared  her  red  right  arm,  held  it  a  crime 
to  confess  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  Lord. 

At  her  coronation  in  June,  1829,  Rana- 
valona  I.  took  two  of  the  national  idols  in 
her  hands  and  said,  "  From  my  ancestors  I 
received  you  ;  in  you  I  put  my  trust,  there- 
fore support  me."  Robed  in  scarlet  and  gold, 
those  idols  were  held  ai  the  front  of  the  plat- 
form to  overawe  the  multitude  while  the 
ceremonies  went  forward.  Her  throne  was 
literally  pillared  on  idols,  as  her  reign  abund- 
antly proved. 

There  were  four  eras  of  persecution,  lasting 
respectively  for  four,  seven,  three,  and  two 
years,  together  reaching  from  1835  to  i860, 
with  intervals  of  comparative  quiet.  The 
third  was  the  most  severe.     Christians   met 


I72  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

secretly  in  each  other's  houses,  and  traveled 
sometimes  twenty  miles  to  mountain  tops,  to 
praise  and  pray,  and  read  the  word  of  God. 

A  woman  of  high  family,  Rafaravavy,  be- 
came a  sincere  disciple  and  opened  one  of  the 
largest  houses  in  the  capital  for  Christian 
worship.  Despite  the  queen's  hostile  attitude, 
she  continued  to  hold  Sunday  evening  meet- 
ings. She  refused  to  reveal  the  names  of  her 
fellow-worshipers,  and  the  queen,  in  a  rage, 
ordered  her  put  to  death.  While  expecting 
cruel  tortures,  she  retained  her  serene  com- 
posure; the  peace  of  God  filled  her  soul.  Her 
life  was  spared,  but  her  property  in  part  con- 
fiscated. She  continued  to  meet  believers, 
however,  and  the  number  of  converts  con- 
stantly increased.  These  persecuted  dis- 
ciples, bereft  of  human  teachers,  looked  only 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  teacher,  and  became 
themselves  instructors  of  others  who  could 
not  read.  Their  quick  sensibilities  made 
them  weep  at  the  bare  mention  of  Jesus.  Ra- 
faravavy's  house  was  assaulted  by  a  mob,  and 
she  was  led  away,  as  she  supposed,  to  execu- 
tion, and  put  in  irons;  but  a  terrible  confla- 
gration, that  same  night,  was  supposed  to 
have    farmed  the  queen    and    aroused    her 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        I  73 

superstitious  fears,  and  the  penalty  was  de- 
layed. At  last  sentence  of  perpetual  slavery 
was  inflicted  on  all  who  had  been  seized  in 
Rafaravavy's  house,  and  Rasalama,  another 
of  the  women,  was  speared  while  kneeling  in 
prayer.  Thus,  on  August  14,  1837,  the  first 
Madagascar  martyr  died  witnessing  for  Jesus. 
Two  hundred  converts  were  enslaved  for 
Jesus's  sake  at  this  time.  Some  of  those  thus 
enslaved  to  traders  afterwards  escaped,  but 
astonished  their  masters  by  returning  to  them 
accounts  of  their  goods,  with  money  obtained 
from  sales.  Fugitives  hid  three  months  at  a 
time  in  forests.  Wanderers  often  came  into 
contact  with  lonely  dwellings,  where  little 
congregations  hitherto  unknown  gathered 
for  Christian  worship. 

These  are  fragments  of  this  remarkable 
story  of  Madagascar  which  read  like  the  high- 
est romance  of  Christian  chivalry. 

In  1839  some  fugitives,  on  their  way  to 
England,  stopping  at  Port  Elizabeth,  in  South 
Africa,  met  with  fellow-converts.  Unable  to 
communicate  freely  with  these  converted 
Hottentots,  their  Bibles  became  actually  vehicles 
of  converse.  The  Malagasy  and  Hottentots, 
turning  to  the  same  passages  in  their  respect- 


174  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

ive  translations  of  the  Word,  in  this  way 
made  known  to  each  other  their  sentiments. 
For  example,  the  Hottentot  disciples  pointed 
to  Ephesians  ii  :  2  :  "Among  whom  we 
all  had  our  conversation  in  time  past," 
etc.  The  Malagasy  disciples  responded  by 
Ephesians  ii  :  14,  15:  "For  He  is  our  peace 
who  hath  made  both  one,  and  hath  broken 
down  the  middle  wall  of  partition."  Also 
Gal.  iii  :  28:  "  Ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 
Again,  the  Hottentots  pointed  to  John  xvi:33: 
"In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation."  The 
Hovas  replied  by  Rom.  viii  135:  "Who  shall 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ?  Shall 
tribulation  ?  "  etc.  When  was  ever  the  Bible 
put  to  a  more  beautiful  use  even  by  the  most 
mature  Christians  ?  Then  they  sang  the  same 
hymns  to  the  same  tunes,  in  different  lan- 
guages. Verily,  "  Multce  terricolis  linguce  ;  ce- 
lestibus  una."  Then  the  Hottentots  made 
them  a  voluntary  contribution  to  help  pay 
costs  of  their  voyage,  and  knelt  on  the  beach 
commending  them  to  God.  And  these  were 
Hottentot  "  dogs"  and  Malagasy  "  asses  !  " 
How  soon  and  strangely  they  had  developed 
into  Christian  men  ! 
When  these  fugitives  reached  England,  in 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        1 75 

May,  1839,  they  wrote  a  letter  to  tkeir  suffer- 
ing fellow-disciples  at  home,  which  for  beauty 
and  purity  of  Christian  sentiment  might  have 
graced  the  fame  of  Paul,  the  apostle  and 
writer  of  epistles.  For  three  years  they 
stayed  on  British  shores,  winning  universal 
esteem  and  love,  and  furnishing  an  unan- 
swerable proof  of  the  reality  of  the  Gospel. 
When,  in  1842,  they  returned  to  Mauritius, 
their  mission  station  at  Moka  became  the 
asylum  for  other  fugitives  from  persecutions 
at  Madagascar.  The  queen  was  only  enraged 
by  the  escape  of  her  victims.  She  became 
the  more  bloodthirsty.  She  ordered  her 
soldiers,  when  they  found  any  Christians,  to 
dig  a  pit,  cast  them  into  it,  pour  boiling 
water  on  them,  and  then  fill  up  the  pit,  and 
go  in  search  of  others  on  whom  to  wreak 
similar  vengeanee. 

Meanwhile,  the  patience  and  fidelity  of 
these  poor  disciples  confounded  their  very 
enemies,  and  constrained  them  to  admire  and 
wonder  at  a  power  so  mysterious  that  could 
take  away  the  fear  of  death,  even  in  forms  so 
horrible.  In  July,  1840,  nine  persons,  recap- 
tured out  of  sixteen  who  had  fled,  were  put 
to  death  by  the  spear  of  the  executioner,  and 


176  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

among  them  Paul  the  Aged,  the  converted 
conjurer  and  preacher.  And  still  the  Gospel 
made  conquests  in  these,  the  darkest  days. 

Two  years  of  respite  from  persecution 
passed  by,  and  a  second  era  of  cruelty  began 
about  June  19,  1842.  Two  converts  were 
seized  while  returning  from  a  missionary 
tour  among  the  Salaklava  tribes,  and  tor- 
tured to  induce  them  to  reveal  the  names  of 
their  fellow-disciples,  but  in  vain.  These 
lambs  went  to  the  slaughter  without  opening 
their  mouths  to  betray  other  believers. 

A  few  months  later  the  queen  was  wrought 
to  fury  by  the  act  of  some  imprudent  person 
who  affixed  to  the  wall  of  a  house  in  the  capi- 
tal a  leaf  of  the  New  Testament,  underlining 
Matthew  xxiii  :  13,  "  Woe  unt6  you  /"  etc.  Con- 
struing this  as  a  personal  insult,  she  required 
the  unknown  offender  to  confess  in  four  days 
under  penalty  of  being  cut  into  pieces  as 
small  as  musket  balls.  As  no  confession  fol- 
lowed, the  queen  arrested  several  Christians, 
and  selected  two,  whose  bodies  were  literally 
chopped  as  fine  as  mincemeat,  and  then  burned 
to  ashes!  And  the  only  ground  for  attaching 
to  these  disciples  the  guilt  of  this  offense  was 
that  they  knew  enough  to  read  and  write  ! 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        1 77 

Strange  to  say,  it  pleased  God  that  the 
only  son  and  heir  of  this  atrocious  Jezebel 
should,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  become  inter- 
ested in  the  very  Christians  who  were  the 
objects  of  his  mother's  persecuting  rage  ! 
Rakatond-Radama  was  one  of  the  illustra- 
tions of  that  paradox  of  heredity  that  a  lamb 
should  be  born  of  a  hyena.  His  gentle  spirit 
was  the  exact  reverse  of  his  mother's  ferocity. 
Where  she  delighted  in  cruelty  he  delighted 
in  kindness;  he  hated  blood-shedding  even 
as  she  thirsted  for  it.  Of  course,  the  people 
soon  found  out  where  to  go  for  sympathy 
and  succor.  He  cut  the  cords  of  those  who 
were  bound,  and  released  those  appointed  to 
death;  and  yet  the  natural  affection  existing 
between  the  son  and  mother  prevented  a 
rupture  between  them. 

About  this  time,  1847,  Ramaka,  called  Ra- 
salasala  or  The  Bold  One,  arose,  a  mighty 
preacher,  the  first  in  the  Madagascar  church. 
Prince  Rakatond  was  drawn  to  hear  him,  and 
was  so  impressed  that  he  had  Christian  teach- 
ers come  to  the  palace  to  instruct  him  in  the 
Scriptures  and  pray  with  him.  So  far  as  he 
could,  he  prevented  all  executions,  or,  at  least, 
modified  and   mollified    the    severity   of    the 


178  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

sentence  against  accused  disciples.  Though 
he  never  seems  to  have  become  a  convert 
himself,  he  often  attended  Christian  worship 
and  befriended  the  converts  in  every  possible 
way.  His  consin,  Prince  Ramonja,  older 
than  he,  yet  singularly  like  him,  and  also  a 
favorite  of  the  queen,  joined  him  in  the  chiv- 
alrous defense  of  the  persecuted  followers  of 
Jesus.  The  nephew  of  the  prime  minister 
went  further  than  these  two  royal  princes, 
and  openly  declared  himself  a  disciple,  and 
so  the  Gospel  once  more  invaded  "Caesar's 
household."  His  uncle  threatened  him  with 
the  loss  of  his  head,  but  he  calmly  answered, 
"  I  am  a  Christian,  and,  if  you  will,  you  may 
put  me  to  death,  but  I  must  and  will  pray." 
He  might  be  assassinated,  but  could  not  be 
intimidated,  as  Curran  said  of  himself  when 
conducting  the  defense  of  Bond. 

To  recount  all  the  fascinating  story  of  the 
Malagasy's  sufferings  would  require  a  volume. 
But  we  seek  rather  to  portray  in  outline  the 
main  features  of  this  romance  of  missions. 
One  of  the  most  affecting  memorials  of  this 
persecution  may  be  found  in  the  fragments 
of  Holy  Scripture  afterwards  brought  home 
by  Mr.  Ellis,     During  this  famine  of  the  writ' 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        1 79 

ten  word,  the  more  educated  converts  copied 
out  portions  of  the  blessed  book,  and  these 
were  found,  worn,  soiled,  and  rent,  with  the 
torn  edges  carefully  drawn  together  and 
sewed  with  fibers  of  bark,  or  repaired  with 
pieces  of  stronger  paper  ;  and  giving  evidence 
that  they  had  been  buried  in  the  earth  or 
hidden  in  smoky  thatches,  to  conceal  them 
from  the  eyes  of  the  malignant  persecutors. 

In  1849  a  third  era  of  persecution  began 
with  the  assault  upon  Prince  Ramonja.  A 
kabar  or  business  meeting  was  summoned  at 
Andahalo.  The  queen  addressed  a  message 
to  her  subjects,  asking  "  why  it  was  that  they 
did  not  give  up  praying?"  in  view  of  the 
severe  penalties  affixed  to  the  crime  of  apos- 
tasy from  the  gods  of  Madagascar. 

The  Christians  made  mild  but  firm  answer, 
refusing  to  recognize  idols.  Rainitraho,  a 
noble  of  royal  blood,  was  among  Christ's  con- 
fessors, and  his  heroism  was  so  contagious 
that  the  officers  stopped  the  examinations 
lest  the  whole  people  should  be  carried  away 
with  his  example.  Four  nobles  were  burned 
alive,  and  fourteen  others  hurled  from  a 
precipice  150  feet  high,  and  their  families 
sold   as   slaves;    117    were    publicly    flogged 


l8o  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

and  compelled  to  labor  for  life  in  chains; 
1,700  were  fined,  and  Prince  Ramonja  was 
degraded  from  his  rank.  The  prince  royal 
was  accused  of  being  a  Christian,  but  the 
queen  was  too  indulgent  to  her  only  son  to 
take  notice  of  the  charge. 

No  acts  of  violence  could  sway  these  simple 
Malagasy  converts  from  Jesus.  They  calmly 
replied,  "  None  of  these  things  move  me." 
They  sang  a  hymn  of  "  going  home  to  God," 
is  they  were  borne  to  execution,  and  prayers 
and  praises  ascended  in  the  very  flames  that 
wrapped  the  stakes.  Once,  indeed,  the  flames 
were  extinguished  by  a  sudden  rain,  and  a 
bow  appeared,  one  end  of  which  seemed  to 
rest  on  the  very  posts  to  which  the  martyrs 
were  tied.  The  spectators  were  overwhelmed 
with  awe,  but  the  fires  were  relit,  and  the  mar- 
tyrs gave  up  the  ghost. 

To  the  precipice  near  the  palace,  Ampama- 
rinana,  fourteen  prisoners  were  then  led  and 
hurled  over  its  awful  edge,  bounding  from 
ledge  to  ledge  until  they  were  broken  on  the 
granite  rocks  below,  and  one  of  them  was 
heard  singing  as  he  fell.  One  timid  woman, 
Ranivo,  who  was  kept  to  the  last,  compelled 
to  look  over  the  edge  of  the  cliff  upon  the 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        l8l 

mangled  bodies  below,  in  answer  to  the  en- 
treaties of  friends  that  she  would  save  her 
life  by  apostasy  from  Christ,  only  begged  to 
be  hurled  from  the  precipice,  too.  And  yet 
the  word  of  the  Lord  had  free  course  and 
was  glorified.  Converts  were  still  gathered. 
Believers  numbered  thousands.  In  at  least 
seven  places  in  the  capital  secret  meetings 
were  held. 

Rainiharo,  one  of  the  ministers  who  had 
placed  Ranavalona  on  the  throne  and  propped 
her  persecuting  policy  by  his  influence,  died, 
and  this  period  of  relentless  persecution  came 
to  a  close.     The  prince  royal,  Rakatond,  now 
became    associated    with    his  mother   in  the 
government.     The  time  now  seemed  to  have 
come  for  the  return  of  the  expelled  mission- 
aries.    The    London    Missionary    Society,  to 
whose  planting  the  Gospel  owed  its  harvest 
in  Madagascar,  sent  a  deputation,  composed 
of  the  veteran  missionary,  Rev.  William  Ellis, 
and   the   Rev.  Mr.  Cameron,  to  prepare    the 
way  for  reestablishing  the  mission  which  for 
about  eighteen  years  had  been  broken  up. 

Mr.  Ellis  found  two  parties  on  the  island, 
led  respectively  by  Prince  Rakatond  and  by 
his  cousin,  Ramboasalama,  the  former  favor- 


182  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

ing  Christianity  and  all  its  noble  institutions  ; 
the  latter  in  league  with  idolatry  and  all  its 
vicious  associations.  But  Mr.  Ellis  found  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  island  stronger  than 
before  persecution  began,  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  Gospel  spread  to  the  remote  parts  of 
the  island.  Not  until  his  third  visit,  in  1856, 
did  he  reach  the  capital.  But  when  he  did, 
he  found  that  just  the  fruits  which  the  blessed 
Gospel  had  produced  in  the  most  enlightened 
communities,  it  had  borne  in  Madagascar. 
Disciples  had  there  fought  the  same  fight  of 
faith,  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  burn- 
ing with  zeal  for  God  and  passion  for  souls. 
Closet  and  family  prayer  were  more  common 
than  among  disciples  in  London  ;  the  word 
of  God  was  daily  searched  as  for  hid  treasure, 
and  the  meetings  for  worship  were  attended 
at  all  risk. 

The  fourth  and  last  persecution  may  be 
traced  to  a  plot  to  depose  the  wicked  queen. 
June,  1857,  was  fixed  as  the  time  for  carrying 
out  the  design.  Mr.  Lambert,  a  Frenchman, 
first  sought  aid  from  Louis  Napoleon  and  the 
English  prime  minister,  Lord  Clarendon,  in 
relieving  the  misery  of  the  Malagasy.  When 
the  hope  of  foreign  interference  failed,  he  is 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        183 

said  to  have  enlisted  the  cooperation  of  Prince 
Rakatond  with  some  of  the  nobles  and  soldiers, 
in  the  plan  of  revolutionizing  the  government 
by  native  aid  alone.  No  violence  was  to  be 
done  to  the  queen's  person  ;  she  was  simply 
to  be  removed  from  the  throne,  and  her 
son  to  be  proclaimed  king.  But  on  the  eve  of 
accomplishment  the  plot  failed,  and  when  the 
knowledge  of  the  conspiracy  came  to  Queen 
Ranavalona's  ears,  she  refused  to  allow  any 
one  to  hint  a  suspicion  against  her  son,  and 
like  Nero  when  Rome  burned,  fixed  the  guilt 
of  the  whole  plot  upon  the  poor  innocent  dis- 
ciples of  Christ.  A  traitor  who  had  professed 
conversion  gave  the  queen  a  list  of  seventy 
whom  he  charged  with  a  share  in  the  con- 
spiracy. Prince  Rakatond  got  hold  of  this 
list  and  tore  it  in  pieces.  But  the  bloody 
queen  must  have  some  victims  for  her  new 
fever  of  rage,  and  so  another  kabar  was 
called.  Not  more  than  three  hundred  Chris- 
tians were  found,  as  they  had  fled  in  bands 
so  numerous  as  to  put  to  flight  the  detach- 
ments of  soldiers  sent  to  capture  them.  The 
infuriated  queen  declared  that  her  search 
should  extend  to  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and 
the  very  beds  of  lakes  and  rivers  ;  but  the 


184  THE    MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

more  she  raved  the  more  calm  and  cautious 
were  the  followers  of  Jesus  ;  only  Prince 
Rakatond's  energy  and  interposition  pre- 
vented the  destruction  not  only  of  hundreds 
of  natives  but  of  the  six  Europeans  who  were 
on  the  island,  including  Madame  Pfeiffer,  the 
traveler.  They  were,  however,  banished  and 
barely  escaped  from  the  island  with  their 
lives. 

Christians  were  pierced  and  tortured  with 
spears  and  then  beheaded.  More  than  two 
hundred  suffered  punishment,  most  of  them 
men  of  mark,  and  stoning  was  now  for  the 
first  time  employed  as  a  new  and  cruel  mode 
of  execution.  Iron  necklaces  were  attached 
to  the  necks  of  others  and  they  were  thus 
linked  together  and  compelled  to  constant 
companionship  until  death  ended  their  suf- 
ferings ;  if  one  died  the  rest  had  to  drag 
about  this  body  of  death — a  revival  of  the 
hideous  forms  of  ancient  torture.  Fifty- 
seven  Christians  were  thus  chained  together 
and  banished  to  a  distant  province. 

This  was  the  last  triumph  of  persecuting 
hatred  against  the  little  church  in  Madagas- 
car. For  thirty-two  years  Ranavalona  had 
held    her   red    scepter.     She    had    sought  to 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        185 

trample  upon  and  stamp  out  with  iron  heel 
the  humble  plant  of  renown  that  was  grow- 
ing in  the  soil  of  this  great  island.  But  God 
used  all  this  rage  of  this  modern  Jezebel  to 
test  and  develop  the  faith  and  love  of  dis- 
ciples. The  tangena  draught,  the  boiling 
caldron,  the  rice-pit,  the  awful  precipice,  the 
chain,  the  spear,  the  stone,  the  stake— all 
united  in  vain  to  compel  these  poor,  ignorant, 
persecuted  disciples  to  disown  their  newly 
found  Saviour.  For  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  missions  God  permitted  a 
feeble  church,  just  planted  and  scarcely 
rooted  on  Pagan  soil,  to  undergo  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  persecution,  having  scarcely 
a  parallel  in  violence  and  cruelty.  That 
church  was  literally  and  emphatically  iso- 
lated ;  not  only  on  an  island,  but  cut  off  from 
sympathetic  contact  and  communication  with 
the  Christian  Church  in  other  lands,  and  yet 
it  more  than  survived  ;  for  at  the  end  of  that 
twenty-five  years,  when,  if  not  plucked  up  by 
the  roots,  it  might  have  been  expected  to  be 
found  feeble  and  half  dead,  it  was  strong  and 
firmly  rooted,  and  among  its  precious  fruits 
were  many  of  the  soldiers,  the  nobles,  and 
even  the  royal  household.     Many  thousand 


l86  THE   MIRACLES   OF   MISSIONS. 

persons  had  been  sentenced  to  various  pun- 
ishments by  the  "  Bloody  Mary  "  of  Mada- 
gascar, for  their  faith  ;  and  yet  when,  in  1861, 
persecution  ceased,  the  Christian  population 
\v 'as  five -fold  greater  than  before  she  began  to 
exterminate  them  ;  and  more  than  this — this 
Plant  of  Renown  had  spread  its  roots  through 
the  very  soil  of  society,  and  its  branches 
reached  afar ;  the  perfume  of  its  golden 
blooms  pervaded  the  very  atmosphere  ;  its 
fruits  were  to  be  found  in  every  home.  The 
whole  community  was  undergoing  trans- 
formation. The  name  of  Christian  had  be- 
come the  sign  and  synonym,  the  pledge  and 
promise  of  truth,  purity,  fidelity,  integrity — 
new  virtues  were  growing,  where  vice  had 
sprung  up  rank  as  weeds.  A  miracle  had  been 
wrought.  A  Supernatural  Power  had  been 
at  work.  The  Spirit  of  God  had  breathed 
new  life  into  Malagasy  hearts. 

July,  1861,  came  and  the  queen  died,  and 
Rakatond,  as  Radama  II.,  became  king.  His 
first  act  was  to  proclaim  his  policy  of  tolera- 
tion. The  era  of  religious  liberty  had  dawned 
for  Madagascar.  He  proclaimed  deliverance 
to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of  prison 
doors  to  them  that  were  bound.     Exiles  re- 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        187 

turned  home,  slaves  were  set  free  ;  it  was  a 
year  of  jubilee.  Idols  were  banished  from 
the  palace,  and  to  show  his  contempt  he  sent 
some  Christians  to  burn  the  very  shrine  of 
one  of  the  national  gods,  while  he  looked  on 
to  witness  the  impotency  of  the  so-called 
"  deity."  Radama  was  a  reformer,  but  not  a 
Christian.  He  was  tolerant  of  the  Gospel, 
and  so  he  was  of  rum,  and  60,000  gallons 
flooded  the  island  in  a  week  and  debauched 
whole  villages. 

It  was  now  safe  for  Mi  Ellis  to  come  again 
and  resume  missionary  work,  and  in  Novem- 
ber, 1861,  he  sailed  for  Madagascar.  On  his 
arrival,  with  Radama's  permission,  he  secured 
the  sites  made  sacred  by  the  blood  and  ashes 
of  the  martyrs,  for  the  building  of  churches  ; 
and  so  the  houses  of  worship  in  Madagascar 
to-day  are  monuments  and  memorials  of  the 
faith  and  faithfulness  of  those  who  there  suf- 
fered for  Jesus. 

Mr.  Ellis's  arrival  was  the  signal  for  a  tri- 
umphal march  through  the  island.  Delega- 
tions of  disciples  met  him,  and  processions 
went  out  to  welcome  the  veteran  missionary. 
Throngs  of  worshipers  assembled  at  early 
dawn.     A  second   service   would  begin  by  8 


l88  THE    MIRACLES   OF    MISSIONS. 

o'clock  in  the  morning.  Every  encouragement 
was  now  given  to  the  devoted  missionary  from 
the  hut  of  the  poor  to  the  palace  of  the  king. 

Radama  II.  fell  a  victim  to  a  conspiracy 
within  a  twelvemonth.  He  who  had  never 
shed  blood  was  strangled  by  assassins,  in 
May,  1863,  and  his  widow,  under  the  title  of 
Queen  Rasoherina,  ascended  the  vacant 
throne,  the  first  constitutional  ruler  of  the 
Malagasy.  She  reigned  five  years,  and  her 
subjects  enjoyed  full  liberty  of  conscience. 
The  work  of  evangelization  went  rapidly  for- 
ward. Nevertheless  the  government  was  not 
Christian,  and  at  her  coronation,  which  was 
on  Sunday,  the  priests  and  idols  were  con- 
spicuously in  the  foreground. 

Congregations  multiplied  and  converts  in- 
creased, and  a  native  ministry  was  trained 
up,  and  a  native  Christian  literature  created. 
The  thirst  of  the  native  Christians  for  the 
Word  of  God  was  insatiable,  and  every  mark 
of  a  Christian  home  was  to  be  found  in  their 
domestic  life.  Marriage  was  honored  and 
divorce  discouraged.  Contributions  were 
liberal,  and  the  missionary  spirit  led  to  abun- 
dant labors  to  spread  the  Gospel  by  both 
home  and  foreign  missions. 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        189 

The  queen's  health  was  failing,  and  before 
she  died,  it  is  believed,  her  mind  turned  from 
her  old  idols,  which  she  had  placed  in  her 
court  and  carried  on  her  journeys.  She  died 
in  April,  1868.  Her  youngest  sister  took  the 
throne  as  Ranavalona  II.  And  now,  for  the 
first  time,  Madagascar  had  a  Christian  as  well 
as  a  constitutional  ruler. 

He  who  would  see  the  marvelous  change 
in  Madagascar,  need  only  contrast  the 
coronation  of  the  two  queens — Ranavalona  I. 
and  Ranavalona  II.  One  took  place  June  12, 
1829.  Then  the  Bloody  Mary  of  Madagascar 
took  two  of  the  national  idols  in  her  hands, 
and  declared  :  "  I  received  you  from  my  an- 
cestors ;  I  put  my  trust  in  you,  therefore  sup- 
port me."  And  then  the  scarlet-clad  images 
were  held  at  the  front  corners  of  the  plat- 
form to  awe  the  superstitious  multitude.  On 
September  3,  1868,  a  Christian  queen  was 
crowned,  and  the  ceremony  befitted  such  a 
monarch.  The  symbols  of  Pagan  faith  were 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  In  their  place  lay  a 
beautiful  copy  of  the  Bible,  side  by  side  with 
the  laws  of  Madagascar.  A  canopy  was 
stretched  above  the  queen,  and  on  its  four 
sides  were  four  Scripture  mottoes  :  "  Glory  to 


190  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

God;"  "Peace  on  earth;"  "Goodwill  to 
man;"  "  God  with  us."  Her  inaugural  ad- 
dress was  interwoven  with  Scripture  dialect, 
and  instead  of  Christianity  it  was  now  idola- 
try which  became  a  suppliant  for  toleration. 
And  all  this  took  place  seven  years  after  Rana- 
valona  I.  expired  !  Astrologers  and  diviners 
were  no  longer  to  be  found  at  court ;  Raso- 
herina's  idol  was  cast  out  of  the  palace. 
Government  work  ceased  on  Sunday,  and  the 
Sunday  markets  were  closed.  In  the  palace 
court  services  of  divine  worship  were  in- 
stituted, which  are  kept  up  to  this  date. 
Churches  now  grow  rapidly,  sometimes  five- 
fold in  a  year.  The  Madagascar  New  Year, 
formerly  an  idolatrous  festival,  now  became 
a  Christian  holy  day  ;  and  the  queen's  ad- 
dress declared,  "  I  have  brought  my  kingdom 
to  lean  upon  God,  and  I  expect  you,  one  and 
all,  to  be  wise  and  just,  and  to  walk  in  His 
ways."  Just  one  month  later  Ranavalona  II. 
and  her  prime  minister  were  publicly  bap- 
tized by  one  of  the  native  preachers,  in  the 
very  courtyard  where,  a  few  years  before, 
the  bloodiest  edicts  had  been  issued. 

In  the  queen's  examination  by   the  native 
ministers,  it  transpired  that  her  first  serious 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.        191 

impressions  were  traceable  to  a  native  Christ- 
ian who,  when  she  was  a  mere  child,  sought 
to  impress  her  with  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 
It  was  Andriantoiamba,  one  of  the  four 
nobleman  who  were  afterward  burned  as 
martyrs,  who  thus  sowed  the  seed  in  that 
young  heart  that  afterward  ripened  into  the 
first  Christian  queen  of  the  island.  Two 
days  before  their  baptism  the  queen  and  the 
prime  minister,  were  wedded,  and  shortly 
after  both  publicly  joined  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
thus  magnifying  the  Christian  family  and  the 
Sacraments  of  the  Church  of  God. 

Such  an  example  was  likely  to  be  followed. 
Almost  all  the  government  officers  of  high 
rank,  and  among  them  the  chief  idol-keeper, 
the  astrologer  of  Rasoherina,  came  forward  to 
receive  baptism.  Congregations  multiplied 
beyond  all  means  of  accommodation.  One 
hundred  new  buildings  were  in  demand  ; 
37,000  persons  attended  worship,  an  increase 
of  16,000  in  a  year  !  On  July  20th  the  corner- 
stone of  a  chapel,  designed  for  the  use  of  the 
queen  and  court,  was  laid  in  the  very  court- 
yard of  the  palace. 

To-day  in  that  palace  courtyard  the  traveler 
may    see   a   beautiful   house   of   prayer.     In 


I92  THE    MIRACLES    OF    MISSIONS. 

gilded  letters  upon  two  large  stone  tablets 
forming  part  of  the  surbase  of  the  structure, 
appears  engraven  the  following  royal  state- 
ment, read  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone 
in  1869  : 

"  By  the  power  of  God  and  grace  of  cur 
Lord  Jesus,  I,  Ranavalomanjaka,  Queen  of 
Madagascar,  founded  the  House  of  Prayer, 
on  the  thirteenth  Adimizana,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  1869,  as  a  house  of 
prayer  for  the  service  of  God,  King  of  Kings 
and  Lord  of  Lords,  according  to  the  word  in 
the  Sacred  Scriptures,  by  Jesus  Christ  the 
Lord,  who  died  for  the  sons  of  all  men,  and 
rose  again  for  the  justification  and  salvation 
of  all  who  believe  in  and  love  Him. 

"  For  these  reasons  this  stone  house, 
founded  by  me  as  a  house  of  prayer,  can- 
not be  destroyed  by  any  one,  whoever  may 
be  king  of  this  my  land,  forever  and  forever; 
but  if  he  shall  destroy  this  house  of  prayer 
to  God  which  I  have  founded,  then  is  he  not 
king  of  my  land,  Madagascar.  Wherefore  I 
have  signed  my  name  with  my  hand  and  the 
seal  of  the  kingdom. 

Ranavalomanjaka, 

Queen  of  Madagascar." 


WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR.    193 

11  This  word  is  genuine,  and   the   signature 
by  the  hand  of  Ranavalomanjaka  is  genuine. 
Rainilaiarivony, 
Prime  Minister  and  Commander-in-Chief 
of  Madagascar." 

If  you  should  visit  this  island  to-day,  you 
would  find  four  sacred  sites  occupied  by 
memorial  churches.  Ampamarinana,  the 
summit  of  the  martyrs'  precipice;  Ambohi- 
potsy,  where  Rasalama,  the  first  martyr,  was 
speared;  Ambatonakanga,  where  so  many 
were  kept  in  prison;  and  Faravohitra,  where 
the  rainbow  rested  over  the  burning  pile,  and 
where  the  first  stone  of  the  church  was  laid 
exactly  beneath  the  spot  where  the  remains 
of  the  martyrs  were  found. 

Is  it  possible  to  account  for  changes  such 
as  these,  wrought  within  the  space  of  sixty 
years  by  the  simple  preaching  and  teaching 
of  the  Gospel,  unless  the  power  of  God  is 
indeed  behind  the  Bible  ?  If  there  ever  was 
a  wonder  that  compelled  even  the  skeptical 
and  the  unbelieving  to  exclaim,  "  What  hath 
God  wrought?"  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  story 
of  Madagascar. 


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